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ROYAL COCHIN CHINA FOWLS. 



THE 



NEW ENGLAND 

POULTRY BREEDER: 



BEING A BRIEF HISTORY OF 



DOMESTIC FOWLS; 



AND CONTAINING FULL DIRECTIONS FOR THEIR 



REARING AND MANAGEMENT. 



ILLUSTRATED WITH 
TWENTY-FIVE CORRECT ENGRAVINGS. 



BY A PRACTICAL POULTERER. 



BOSTON: 
R. B. FITTS & CO., 22 SCHOOL STREET, 

OFFICE OF THE "AMERICAN UNION." 

1850, 









w . 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by 

R. B. FITTS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



*y transfer from 
Office Lite. 



STEREOTYPED BY 

HOB ART & ROBBINS; 

HEW ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDER*, 

»O3T0N. 



I 

r7 



K 

n 



LIST OP ENGRAVINGS. 



PAGB 

Royal Cochin China Fowls, 4 

Grey Chittagong Cock, (from life,) 25 

Hen, (do.) 28 

Shanghae Fowls, (do.) 34 

Plymouth Rock Fowls, (do.) .40 

Black Spanish Cock, .... 45 

" Hen > •.. ..W. '.'.'. ' 46 

Bolton Grey, or " Creole" Fowls, 48 

Black Poland Fowls, 49 

English Game Cock, ' 51 

Sir John Seabright Bantams, 53 

Great Malay Fowl, 55 

Bankiva Cock, 56 

The Dunghill Fowl, . . ......... 59 

" Golden Pheasant," or " Golden Top-knot" Cock, . ' ' 60 

*n. ^ " " " " Hen > - - « 

The Domestic Turkey, . . 63 

The Wild Turkey, ' .'.'.'.'. '. \ 71 

The Domestic Drake, 83 

The Common Duck, ' / Q 4 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introductory, . 9 

Origin of Domestic Fowls, 16 

Species of Fowls, 23 

Grey Chittagongs, 24 

Royal Cochin China Fowls, 29 

The Shanghae, or Shanghai Fowls, 34 

Plymouth Rock Fowl, . 39 

Dorking Fowl, 43 

Spanish Fowls, 45 

Bolton Grey, or " Creoles," 48 

Black Polanders, • • •, 49 

Game Fowl, /...., 51 

Sir John Seabright Bantams, 53 

Common Malay Fowl, 54 

Bankiva Fowl, 56 

Rumkin, or " Tail-less" Fowl, 58 

Barn-door, or Dunghills, 59 

" Golden Pheasant," or Spangled Hamburgh Fowl, . . 60 

The Domestic Turkey, 63 

The Wild Turkey, 71 

Guinea Hen, or Pintado, 75 

The Goose, 76 

Rearing Geese, 78 

Domestic Duck, 83 

The Weight of Poultry, 85 

Profits of Poultry-keeping, 90 

Feeding and Rearing Fowls, 95 

Diseases and Remedies, 101 

Caponizing, 105 

Conclusion, 109 



THE 

NEW ENGLAND 

POULTRY BREEDER. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



CHAPTER I. 

The very extraordinary interest which is evinced 
among the farmers and poultry fanciers in New Eng- 
land at the present time, and the anxiety shown by 
gentlemen throughout the interior, especially, for correct 
and reliable information upon this very pleasing, and, if 
well managed, profitable pursuit, has prompted the author 
of this treatise on the management of fowls to put forth 
the present work — which he has prepared with great 
care, from the best known authorities — with a view to 
meet the wants of those who are searching for such 
information as may be of utility, and which may be 
appreciated and comprehended by breeders of domestic 
fowls in the climate of America. 

A great deal has been written, and a variety of opin- 
ions have been promulgated, by those who breed birds 
abroad. In the pages which follow, the reader will find 
copious directions, compiled from the most authentic 
sources, in reference to breeding, rearing, fattening, ca- 
ponizing,€tc. ; and it has been the intention of the author, 
in preparing this volume, to furnish such material as will 
comport with reason and common sense, in its applica- 
bility to raising poultry on this side of the Atlantic. 

The fowls treated of, together with the engravings in 



10 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

this work, will be found truthful and correct drawings of 
birds, as we find them in this country, generally. Sev- 
eral of them are actual portraits, drawn from life, by 
competent artists, and which will be recognized, at once, 
as true and excellent likenesses. We are indebted to 
G. P. Burnham, Esq., of Roxbury, Massachusetts, (who 
has some of the finest fowls in America in his yards,) 
for several of the original engravings in this treatise. 

Mr. Richardson, (of Dublin,) in his excellent work, re- 
marks that, " the breeding and rearing of poultry have, 
of late years, greatly progressed in the estimation of the 
public, and have, in short, begun to assume a position, 
with reference to other departments of country life, much 
more appropriate, and more nearly approximating to that 
actually demanded by the importance of the subject, than 
they formerly did. Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, has set 
the example to her subjects, and many of her proudest 
nubles have imitated her ; while, among all classes, 
ardent poultry fanciers are to be met with. 

" Some may not be fully aware of the profitable charac- 
ter of this interesting pursuit, and may deem that it can 
be followed only for the innocent recreation it affords. 
We shall, however, if possible, convince them to the con- 
trary. Poultry may be converted into money either 
while living or when dead ; or they may be bred, partly 
for the market, and partly with a view to the disposal of 
their eggs. 

" First, as to the profit arising from the disposal of 
superfluous stock. This depends, of course, in a great 
measure, upon the quality and character of the birds we 
keep ; and hence, if the reader be advised, he will con- 
fine his fancy to the more valuable varieties. The ex- 
pense of feeding and rearing a valuable fowl will not be 
found to exceed that required for a comparatively worth- 
less one ; at least, if at all, only as regards comfort and 
warmth, which, if properly procured, are not very costly. 

u In England the profits accruing from the breeding and 

fattening of poultry have been longer understood than in 

Ireland; and so far back as 1837, the London dealers 

■n paid away upwards of £150 in a single day. At 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 11 

Wokingham, in Berkshire, in 1827, young fowl, even of 
the common dunghill sort, sold for 18s. a couple ; from 
4s. to 8s. for young and fat fowls, is still considered a 
moderate price. In London, there is always a great 
demand for poultry, especially during the fashionable 
season, when twenty dozen or more are often required 
for a single festival ; and if they were scarcer, and the 
price, consequently, higher, they would, doubtless, be- 
come in still greater request. Lord Althorpe, (Earl 
Spencer,) who always signalized himself by his patron- 
age of every description of rural and domestic economy, 
instituted a poultry show at Chapel Brompton, in North- 
amptonshire. The best turkey weighed, on this occasion, 
(1829,) 20 lbs. 4 oz. ; capon, 7 lbs. 14± oz. ; pullet, 6 lbs. 
3| oz. ; goose, 18 lbs. 2\ oz. ; ducks, (per couple,) 15 
lbs. 10 oz. These, be it remembered, were fattened ex- 
pressly for market. Since 1829, poultry shows have 
been established all over the kingdom, with a view to 
encourage the attention of the people to this branch of 
rural affairs. 

11 A large proportion of the eggs which supply the Lon- 
don market is brought from France, and chiefly from 
the department of Calais, opposite the coast of Kent and 
Sussex ; and hence the price of eggs in that part of 
France is greatly enhanced, compared with what it is in 
other parts, more remote from so good a market. A 
writer in a newspaper, published some years ago, at 
Arras, after grumbling greatly at this dearness of an 
article which, I suppose, was a favorite with him, enters 
into the following calculations as to the value of this 
branch of trade : ' Out of 72,000,000 eggs annually im- 
ported into England from France, Germany, the Nether- 
lands, and other countries, France contributes 55,000,000. 
Calculating the first cost at 4|d. per dozen, England pays 
annually to France, for eggs, about £77,000.' A writer 
in the Penny Magazine, in the year 1837, calculates the 
importations of eggs from all sources at 69,000.000, for 
the year ending January 5, 1837; and the duty, at Id. 
per dozen, amounted to £24,048. In 1820, the quantity 
imported was 31,000,000, the duty yielding a revenue 

m 



12 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

of £11,077. In 1827, the importations of eggs were 
nearly the same. ' These 69,800,000 of eggs required 
(continues the writer quoted) about 575,000 fowls, each 
producing 120 eggs on an average, all beyond this 
being required for domestic consumption. Assuming 
the grounds of this calculation to be correct, the 55,000,- 
000 eggs supplied by France are the production of 
450,333 fowls, each of which furnishes ten dozen eggs, 
imported at a duty of 10d., being a tax to that amount on 
each fowl. Allowing twelve fowls to each family en- 
gaged in supplying the demand for eggs, the number of 
families thus interested will be 39,861, representing a 
population of 198,000. In the Pas de Calais, there can 
scarcely be a larger proportion than two families out of 
every five who are connected with the egg trade ; and, 
if this be ascertained to be the real proportion, the popu- 
lation not directly engaged would be 457,000, which, 
with the 198,000 mentioned before, would furnish a total 
of 655,000, which is the population of the department.' 
The usual mode in which these eggs arrive at the market 
is through the intervention of an intermediate class of 
dealers, who go from house to house, visit cabin after 
cabin, collecting from each the accumulated store, and, 
in their turn, bring the produce of their tour to the egg 
merchant, who regularly ships them for their destination. 
A practice very similar to this prevails in Ireland. Mr. 
Weld, in his 'Statistical Survey' of Eoscommon, thus 
writes — ' The trade in eggs, the value of which for ex- 
port, according to Mr. Williams, in 1832, amounted to 
£500 a day, paid by England to Ireland, is carried on 
with considerable vivacity at Lanesborough, and also at 
Tarmonbarry. The eggs are collected from the cottages 
for several miles around by runners — commonly boys, 
from nine years old and upwards, each of whom has a 
regular beat, which he goes over daily, bearing back the 
produce of his toil carefully stowed in a small hand- 
basket. The prices vary at different periods of the year ; 
but they are never changed without previous notice to 
the runners. In the height of the season, the prices at 
Lanesborough were from 2s. 6d. to 4s. per 120 ; but 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 13 

towards the winter they rose to 5s. The eggs were 
packed in layers, with straw, in such crates as are com- 
monly used for the conveyance of earthenware. Each 
crate will hold about eighty-four hundred, of six score — 
that is, 10,030 eggs, the first cost being from £10 10s. 
to £16 6s. per crate. These are sent forward, on specu- 
lation, to Dublin, or, occasionally, at once to the English 
market, and a profit of £4 or £5 a crate is considered a 
fair remuneration. Sometimes it is more, and some- 
times it is less ; and there is risk in the trade.' 

" The following statements, by M. Legrand, a member 
of the French Statistical Society, on the production and 
consumption of eggs in France, may not prove uninter- 
esting, as they tend considerably to aid me in my en- 
deavors to prove that, however insignificantly in them- 
selves individually eggs may appear, in the aggregate 
they are of no small importance : — 4 In 1813, the num- 
ber of eggs exported from France was 1,754,140. Be- 
tween 1816 and 1822, the number exported rose rapidly 
from 8,733,000 to 55,717,500 ; and in 1834, the number 
had increased to 90,441,600. In 1835, 76,190,120 were 
exported for England; 60,800 for Belgium; 49,696 for 
the United States ; 49,260 for Switzerland ; 34,800 for 
Spain; and 306,304 to other parts of the world. The 
total amount of the exportations for that year was 
3,828,284 francs. The consumption in Paris is calcu- 
lated at 115|- eggs per head, or 101,012,400. The con- 
sumption in other parts of France may be reckoned at 
double this rate, as, in many parts of the country, dishes 
composed of eggs and milk are the principal items in all 
the meals. The consumption of eggs for the whole 
kingdom, including the capital, is estimated at 7,231,- 
160,000; add to this number those exported, and those 
necessary for reproduction, and it will result that 7,380,- 
925,000 eggs were laid in France during the year 1835.' " 

From the Report of the Committee of Supervision, at 
the late Fowl Show in Boston, (November, 1849,) pub- 
lished in the Cultivator, we gather the following statis- 
tics, which will give the reader some idea of the extent 
and importance of the li egg traffic" in this country — 



14 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

and which was made up, undoubtedly, from reliable 
authority. The committee state that — 

" The article of poultry is readily converted into money, 
and is probably quite as readily prepared for market as 
any other article of stock produced on the farm. The 
expense of feeding the best stock is no more than would 
be the expense of feeding and rearing the poorest dung- 
hill fowl, while the return shows a heavy balance in 
favor of the heavy-bodied and fine-meated fowl, with 
little offal. 

" The amount of sales of poultry at the Quincy Mar- 
ket, Boston, for the year 1848, was six hundred and 
seventy-four thousand four hundred and twenty-three 
dollars. The average sales of one dealer alone amounted 
to twelve hundred dollars per week, for the whole year. 
The amount of sales for the whole city of Boston, for the 
same year, (so far as obtained,) was over one million of 
dollars. 

" The amount of sales of eggs in and around the 
Quincy Market, for 1848, was one million one hundred 
and twenty-nine thousand seven hundred and thirty-five 
dozen, which, at eighteen cents per dozen, (the lowest 
price paid, eleven and a half cents, and the highest thirty 
cents per dozen, as proved by the average purchases of one 
of the largest dealer's books,) makes the amount paid for 
eggs to be two hundred and three thousand three hun- 
dred and fifty-two dollars and thirty cents. And from 
information already obtained from other egg merchants, 
in the same city, the whole amount of sales will not fall 
much, if any, short of a million of dollars, for 1848. 

" The average consumption of eggs at three of the 
hotels was more than two hundred dozen each day, for 
the year 1848. 

" The value of eggs brought from the Penobscot and 
Kennebec rivers, during the running season of the steam- 
boats plying between Boston and those two rivers, was 
more than three hundred and fifty thousand dollars for 
that season. 

" In one day, from Cincinnati, Ohio, it is stated in one 
of the public journals, there were shipped five hundred 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 



15 



barrels, containing forty-seven thousand dozen of eggs. 
One dealer, in the egg trade, at Philadelphia, sends to the 
New York market daily nearly one hundred barrels of 
eggs. It is estimated, from satisfactory returns, that the 
city of New York alone expends nearly a million and a 
half of dollars in the purchase of eggs. 

11 By reference to the agricultural statistics of the 
United States, published in 1840, it will be seen that the 
value of poultry in the state of New York was two mil- 
lion three hundred and seventy-three thousand and 
twenty-nine dollars, which was more than the value of 
its sheep, the entire value of its neat cattle, and nearly 
five times the value of its horses and mules." 

The same report makes up the valuation of poultry 
in the United States, in round numbers, as follows; 
namely : — 



States. Value in dollars. 

Maine, 123,171 

New Hampshire, . . . . 97,862 

Vermont, 176,437 

Massachusetts, 540,295 

Rhode Island, 61,492 

Connecticut, 176,659 

New York, 2,373,029 

New Jersey, 412,487 

Pennsylvania, .... 1,033,172 

Delaware, 47,465 

Maryland, 219,159 

Virginia, 752,467 

North Carolina, . i . . .544,125 

South Carolina, 590,594 

Georgia, 473,158 

Total, 



States. Value in dollars. 

Ohio, 734,931 

Kentucky, 536,439 

Tennessee, 581,531 

Louisiana, 273,314 

Mississippi, 369,481 

Alabama, 829,220 

Missouri, ....... 230,283 

Indiana, 393,228 

Illinois, 330,968 

Michigan, 82,730 

Arkansas, 93,549 

Florida, 61,007 

Wisconsin, 16,167 

Iowa, 17,101 

District of Columbia, . . 3,092 
.... $12,176,170. 



" It is probable that, since 1840, the value of poultry 
has doubled. 

" In Bixio's Journal of Practical Agriculture and Gar- 
dening for April, 1848, it is estimated that the whole 
valuation of eggs consumed and exported in France will 
amount to fifty-seven millions of dollars. The value of 
eggs shipped from Dublin to Liverpool and London was 
more than five millions of dollars, for the year 1848. 
France, in 1835, had seventy-three millions of dollars 
invested in poultry. England, in 1840, had fifty millions 



16 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

of dollars invested in poultry. Since that time, the 
numbers have, of course, increased.'' 

Thus it will be seen that the matter of poultry-raising 
is no inconsiderable one in this country ; and we doubt 
if the farmers of New England have hitherto realized 
how great a source of trade and profit it may be made, 
with the right sort of attention and care. 

At the exhibition of poultry which took place in 
Boston last Fall, a great number of fine birds (and many 
very indifferent specimens) were shown. The contribu- 
tors to that show, however, did nobly ; and it was a mat- 
ter of surprise to all who attended the Public Garden, in 
November, that such an immense variety, and such 
beautiful samples of the feathered tribe, had been bred 
in New England. 

The prices obtained for good specimens of fowls at 
that time, and since the exhibition, have been extraor- 
dinary. The " fowl fever" has attacked all classes, from 
the highest to the humblest; and everybody is now aim- 
ing to excel his neighbor, for the next annual exhibition. 
This competition is laudable, and meantime (if they 
never have before) the fowls in New England will find 
themselves — - at least for a time — well cared for. 



CHAPTER II. 

We shall devote as brief a space as may be to the dry 
details of the origin of the domestic fowl. Little is 
actually known on this point that can be set down as 
matter of fact ; although most authors who write on this 
subject, indulge in speculations regarding the exact time 
when " roosters first began to crow." We deem this 
particular point of slight consequence ; but the annexed 
extracts, which we take from the report of the commit- 
tee already quoted, were prepared by a gentleman who 
has devoted much time to researches upon the subject, 
and they contain some interest. 

" The order from which the most valuable poultry is 
derived is that known to naturalists as Gattincs, or gal- 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 17 

linaceous birds. The genus of these first in order is 
that known as Penelope, or Guan, of which there is not 
much to be said as regards their fitness for the poultry- 
yard, as I know of but one instance in which one has 
been brought to this country. I brought a female speci- 
men of crested Guan with me, on my return from Yu- 
catan, which did not live a year after its arrival. This 
bird is the size of a small turkey, weighing, when full 
grown, seven or eight pounds ; the meat is very good. 
They live principally on the leaves of trees, and such 
like food, greedily eating grass, clover, &c. ; in short, 
almost any green herbage, and also fruits of various 
kinds. They are not difficult to domesticate in their 
native countries, but, I think, could hardly be made to 
survive our cold winters. 

" The next genus would be that of Crax or Curassow, 
known here as the Mexican pheasant. There are a 
number of species of this genus, of which several are fre- 
quently domesticated in their native country. I brought 
with me three different species to this country, viz., one 
Crax rubra, one Crax alector, and one Crax globicera. 
The Crax alector was killed by a dog, a few days after we 
arrived; the other two lived until winter, when, in order 
to save myself the trouble of keeping, I lent them to a trav- 
elling menagerie, and they soon died, — owing, probably, 
to neglect. These birds are larger and more hardy than 
those of the previously mentioned genus. Their meat 
is very good, and they feed on much the same food as 
the Guans. They might, perhaps, with care, be kept in 
this country, but of this I do not feel very sanguine. 

" The next genus which affords anything likely to be 
of value in the poultry-yard is that of Pavo or peacock. 
There are three known species belonging to this genus, 
of which the P. cristatus is the one generally known. 
This bird used to be highly valued for the table, and I 
see no reason why it should not be again. 

" The next genus likely to afford valuable poultry is 
one closely allied to the preceding, viz., that of Polyplec- 
tron. All the species of this genus, though much 
smaller than the peacock, quite rival them m brilliancy 



18 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

of plumage. Some species, particularly P. bicalcaratum 
and P. thibetanum, are frequently domesticated in their 
native country, (India,) and I think that they might be 
easily introduced here, as they are found mostly in 
mountainous countries, where the climate is quite cold at 
some seasons of the year. They have two, and some- 
times three spurs on each leg, whence their name. Next 
comes the genus Phasianus, or pheasants. These birds 
are more valuable in a wild state in parks and preserves, 
on account of their beauty, and the sport afforded in 
shooting them, than as mere poultry. Our winters, how- 
ever, are too cold for them. 

" Next to this comes the most valuable genus to the 
poulterer of any yet mentioned, that of Gallus, or cock. 
Our present domestic varieties are derived principally 
from the G. bankiva ; but some of the larger varieties 
probably come from G. giganteus, and G. aeneus, and 
perhaps from some of the other large species. The na- 
tive country of this genus is India and its islands. In 
the same country is also found another genus, some 
species of which are frequently domesticated by the 
natives. It is that of Gallophasis, cock-pheasants, which 
could undoubtedly be introduced here. The most com- 
mon species are G. ignitus, ox fire-backed pheasant, and 
G. erythropthalmus, or red-eyed pheasant. 

" The next genus in value, as well as order, is that of 
Meleagris, or turkeys. There are but two species, how- 
ever, belonging to this genus, one of which is found in 
the north, and the other in Central America. M. gallo- 
pavo is the common North American species, which has 
been spread all over the world. The other species, 
M. ocillata, was almost unknown, until within a few 
years. It is much more beautiful than the common 
turkey, and also much more delicate and difficult to 
rear ; so that I doubt whether they can be successfully 
domesticated in this country, though they are not 
uncommon in a domestic state in Yucatan. I started 
from the port of Sisal with three living specimens, which 
were unfortunately lost overboard in the Gulf of Mexico. 

" I understand that the Earl of Derby had some at 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 19 

Knowlsley Park, but I doubt whether they are still 
living. 

" Next in order is the genus Numida, or Guinea fowl, 
of which there are five known species, all natives of 
Africa ; only one species is domesticated, viz., Numidia 
meleagris, or common Guinea fowl. 

11 From the order Columbce are derived some species 
of considerable importance to the poulterer. All the 
principal varieties of pigeons come from the genus 
Columba, species livia, or rock-pigeon of Europe, which, 
in the wild state, breed in the sides of rocky islands, as 
the Faroe Islands, and the rock of Gibraltar. This 
habit of building in caves fits them particularly for our 
dove-cots. Many other wild species of this order might 
doubtless be domesticated. 

" The second genus is that of Anser> or goose. There 
are eight known species belonging to this genus, of 
which two, the snow and the white-fronted goose, are 
common to Europe and America, and five are common 
to Europe and Asia. 

11 The third genus of this order is that of Bernicla, or 
Barnacle goose. The most important species of this 
genus is Bernicla canadensis, or our common wild or 
Canada goose. Nearly all the species of this genus 
might be domesticated. Our common Brant, B. brenta, 
is frequently found in a domestic state along the sea- 
coast of Massachusetts. 

" The fourth genus likely to afford poultry is that of 
Aix. There are but two species belonging to this genus, 
namely, A. sponsa, our summer or wood duck, and 
A. galericulata, the Mandarin duck of China, both of 
which are occasionally domesticated, and are chiefly 
valuable as ornaments to pleasure-grounds, on account 
of their brilliant plumage. 

" The fifth, and most important genus of this order, 
is that of Anas, or ducks proper. The common tame 
duck is derived from A. boschas, or Mallard, a species 
common to Europe and North America, which is occa- 
sionally crossed with A. obscura, our common black or 
dusky duck, and with A. moschata, the Muscovy duck. 



20 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

This last belongs more properly to a different genus, that 
of Cairina, and is of considerable value in the poultry- 
yard." 

Eichardson says : — " The domestic cock appears to 
have been known to man from the very earliest period. 
Of his real origin little appears to be known, and the 
period or manner of his first introduction into Greece, or 
southern Europe, is involved in the greatest obscurity. 
The cock has certainly ever held a prominent position 
among birds ; he occupied a conspicuous place at the 
shows of the Greeks and Romans, in the days of old ; 
his effigy was engraved, and is still to be seen, upon 
many of their medals and coins ; and he has been 
expressly dedicated to several of their favorite deities — 
as Apollo, Mercury, Mars, and iEsculapius. The wisest 
heathen that ever lived — the profoundest philosopher 
that ever flourished, unaided by the light of Christianity 
— the great Socrates — forgot himself in his last 
moments, and suffered the mire of superstition to tarnish 
the glorious wreath that wisdom had hung upon his 
brow, by directing a cock to be sacrificed to iEsculapius. 

" At a Roman banquet, this bird formed a principal 
dish, and poultry were even then carefully reared and 
fattened, as well as crammed. Nor was the pugnacious 
disposition of the cock even then unknown, or lost sight 
of, as a means of amusing man; for cock-fighting was 
seriously entertained and encouraged as at once a reli- 
gious and a political ceremony. The isles of Rhodes 
and Delos are said to have furnished the fattest birds for 
the table, as well as the most enduring and unflinching 
champions of the ancient cock-pit. 

" It has been very generally supposed, and most com- 
monly asserted, that the domestic cock owes his origin 
to the Jungle fowl of India. I hold that he does not — 
that he, in fact, differs as much from that bird as one 
fowl can well differ from another. Read, however, the 
following description of the Jungle fowl, and find, if you 
can, its counterpart among our domestic stock : — 

11 It is about one third less than our common dunghill 
cock, being — the comb not included in the measure- 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 21 

merit — about twelve or fourteen inches in height. The 
comb is indented, and the wattles certainly bear some 
slight resemblance to those of our common cock ; but the 
naked parts of the head and throat are much more con- 
siderable. The feathers of the head and neck are 
longest on the lowest parts, and differ both in structure 
and aspect from those of other cocks, whether wild or 
tame. The Jungle hen is smaller than the cock, has 
neither comb nor wattles, and the throat is entirely 
covered with feathers — a very remarkable distinction 
from our domestic hens. The space round the eyes is 
naked, and of a reddish color; the under parrs are fur- 
nished with plumage, similar to that of the same parts 
of the cock; but, in addition to these peculiarities, the 
Jungle cock possesses still another, which, however, the 
hen does not share with him — namely, the mid-rib and 
stem of a portion of the feathers is considerably expanded, 
forming a white stripe along the whole feather, as far as 
the tip, where it expands, becomes broader, and forms a 
gristly plate of a rounded form, whitish, thin, and highly 
polished ; this gristly substance is still more remarkable 
on the wing-feathers than on any other part, the tip, 
indeed, of the wing-feathers, forming a less brilliant 
plate, solid as horn, and as firm and unyielding to the 
touch. These plates are of a deep red color, and by 
their union form, a plate of red maroon, which looks as 
if it were varnished. There are, however, two wild 
cocks in which we find sufficient points of resemblance 
to our domestic varieties to answer the purpose of ter- 
minating our somewhat unsatisfactory search. 

" I allude to the gigantic bird of St. Jago and Sumatra, 
and to the diminutive denizen of the wilds of Java. 
The reasons for supposing these two birds to be the 
veritable originals of our domestic poultry may be 
summed up briefly thus : — 

11 1. — The close resemblance subsisting between their 
females and our domestic hens. 

" II. — The size of our domestic cock being interme- 
diate between the two, and alternating in degree, same- 



22 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

times inclining towards the one, and sometimes towards 
the other. 

"III. — We are led to this conclusion by our observa- 
tions relative to the nature of their feathers, and their 
general aspect, the form and mode of distribution of their 
barbs being the same as in our domestic fowls. 

" IV. — In these two birds do we alone find the females 
provided with a crest and small wattles, characteristics 
not to be met with in any other known wild species. 
You will meet with these characteristics in the highly- 
bred Spanish fowl. 

" Notwithstanding these analogies, however, domesti- 
cation has so changed the form of the body, and of its 
fleshy appendages, that we might now find it rather a 
difficult task to refer each modern individual variety to 
its primitive stock; we must, in order to understand 
fully the causes that produce this difficulty, recollect the 
constant and frequently careless crossing one bird with 
another, and the very frequently promiscuous intercourse 
that takes place in a state of domesticity, taking, like- 
wise, into consideration, changes of climate, variety of 
treatment, and numerous other causes. 

*'• To the more diminutive Bankiva cock we are 
indebted for the smaller varieties, improperly designated 
Bantams, and the so-called Turkish fowl. By crossing, 
peculiarities of climate, management, &c, have been 
produced from these — 

"I. — The cock with small crest and wattles; fur- 
nished, also, with a tuft of feathers, which some writers 
have supposed to be produced by the juices that ordina- 
rily go to furnish nourishment for the comb taking 
another form, and developing themselves in the produc- 
tion of the tuft. These approximate most nearly to the 
original Sumatra stock, and we may recognise their 
domestic representative in the Hamburgh and Polish 
breeds. 

" II. — The ordinary village cock, provided with comb 
and wattles, has no crest or tuft of feathers ; this seems 
the intermediate variety. 

" III. — Diminutive cocks, ordinarily known as Ban- 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 23 

tarns, with, in some varieties, the tarsi and toes covered 
with feathers; but this is not invariably the case." 

Thus much for the opinions of those who are well read 
upon the origin of the domestic fowl. Whether the 
birds which are bred so generally and so generously 
around us at this day, have any affinity or kin to the 
original Bankiva, the St. Jago, the Chittagong, the Great 
Malay, or other noted Eastern fowls, it matters very lit- 
tle to our breeders. That they were first known in Asia 
and Persia, is pretty well established ; but the blood of 
the originals, by this time, (we opine,) circulates but 
sparingly in our American fowls ! With these remarks, 
we turn more particularly to a description of the speci- 
mens which surround us. 



CHAPTER III. 

SPECIES OF DOMESTIC FOWLS. 

We would again state, in this place, that several of 
the beautiful portraits which follow, are original — drawn 
from life — and depict the birds which we shall now de- 
scribe, just as they may be seen at the poultry-houses 
of the proprietors. The first, in size and consideration, 
with us, is the 

CHITTAGONU FOWL. 

This magnificent bird is a native of the east, and is 
described by Richardson as standing high upon the leg, 
is long-necked, serpent-headed, and is in color usually a 
dark brown, streaked with yellow, sometimes, however, 
white ; his form and appearance are grand and striking 
in the extreme, and he is no small embellishment to the 
poultry-yard. A species of this fowl is also frequently 
called the " Great Malay." 

" The Malay fowl," adds Mr. R., " which were origi- 
nally brought into England, were not such birds as I 
could recommend to the notice of the breeder, their size 
possessing too much offal, as neck, legs and thighs. 



24 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

Another variety has been since introduced, which is well 
worthy of our attention As a cross, this fowl has, in- 
deed, proved a most valuable addition to our poultry- 
yard, the cross-breed possessing all the hardiness ok our 
native domestic fowl, with the gigantic size of the for- 
eign stock. Since the introduction of this variety, the 
export trade in poultry, both living and dead, has con- 
siderably increased ; indeed, without introduction of 
fresh blood, as with all breeding stock that are bred in 
and in, fowl will become puny and degenerate." 

The fowl thus alluded to has been imported, within the 
last two or three years, into Pennsylvania, and ranks at 
the head of the list, in that region, for all the good qual- 
ities desirable in a domestic bird. The color is a streaked 
grey, rather than otherwise, and the portraits which we 
here present are fine samples of this great stock. They 
are designated as the 

GREY CHITTAGONG FOWL. 

Our engravings are likenesses of a crower and hen 
(pullet) in possession of Geo. P. Burnham, Esq., of Eox- 
bury, Mass. These fine fowls are thus described, in a 
late number of the Massachusetts Ploughman, 

" Editor of Mass. Ploughman, — Sir : I send you, this 
week, a likeness of two fowls — a cockerel and pullet — 
of the famous Chittagong breed. I will explain the 
character of those / have, and from which the above 
picture was designed, premising that the drawing is 
faithful to life. 

" These Chittagongs are from the imported stock of 
Asa Pugg, Esq., of Pennsylvania, who, in his letters to 
me, makes the following statements in relation to the 
specimens above portrayed, and upon this admirable 
breed of domestic fowls generally. He says : — 

" ' The samples of Chittagongs I send you have the 
largest blood in them of any variety of fowl with which 
I am acquainted/ The above pair ' were hatched on 
the 4th of June last, and are the best specimens I ever 
saw, here or elsewhere, for their age. I had determined 
under no circumstances to part with them, but will do 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 25 




GREY CHITTAGONG COCK. 



26 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

so, if you like my price. They are not yet six months 
old. The rooster weighs, this day, (Nov. 26,) eight and 
a half pounds, strong ; the pullet, seven and three quarter 
pounds. They are of a greyish color, both marked in 
every respect alike, with the single exception, that while 
the pullet is rather heavily feathered on the legs, the 
cockerel shows but few feathers below the thigh. 

" * The color of the leg is a reddish white ; and these 
being a Southern fowl, are, of course, allied to the 
" Cochin China" variety, or breed. The pullets will 
grow much larger, and are now about ready to lay, I 
judge. These fowls are considerably larger than any 
Cochin Chinas I have ever seen. This variety of Chit- 
tagong comes to maturity earlier than any of the large 
species, and our breeders prefer them, generally, for both 
laying and other practical qualities. This pair of fowls, 
when fully grown, will weigh you, at the least, twenty- 
two pounds. 

" * I have a cockerel fifteen months old, of this variety, 
and a hen about the same age, (or a trifle older,) which, 
if alive next March, and cared for properly, meantime, I 

am certain will weigh twenty-two pounds 

I have a rooster of this species, also, seventeen months 
old, and a hen about three years of age, which, at the 
commencement of the laying season, next spring, I am 
sure will weigh twenty-five pounds ! This is somewhat 

above the average, however The skin and 

meat of these fowls is delicately white ; which is differ- 
ent, you observe, from the yellow-legged and light yel- 
low-plumed Great Malay fowls, in the vicinity of New 
York; and which weigh, so far as I can judge from ob- 
servation, about sixteen to eighteen pounds per pair, at 
full maturity.' 

" Such is the description furnished me by the importer 
of my specimens of Chittagongs, who is one of the best 
fowl-breeders in America. 

' The Chittagong is a very superior bird, showy in 
plumage, courageous, and exceedingly hardy. The 
color of mine is grey, generally, interspersed with light- 
ish yellow and white feathers, upon the pullets. The 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 27 

rooster is grey body, the wings, hackles, back and rump 
feathers a silvery yellow, tinted with stray light brown 
and white ; the tail and breast are nearly black. 

44 The legs of this fowl are of a reddish flesh-color, the 
meat is delicately white, the combs large and single, 
wattles very full, wings good size. The legs are more 
or less feathered, the model is graceful, carriage proud 
and easy, action prompt and determined. The parents 
of the above birds weigh, when in good condition, nearly 
twenty-five pounds the pair. The owner of them, I learn, 
has refused twenty dollars for the mother, which, at this 
time, weighs nearly twelve pounds, alone ! They do 
not reach maturity till full two years old; and, as they 
command a very high price in the market, (and always 
have,) being the very best fowl known for capons, they 
are warranted, when sold by an honorable breeder, to 
weigh, at maturity, twenty pounds per pair. Prime 
specimens are now worth ten dollars the pair. They 
have been sold, this season, for fifteen to twenty dollars 
the pair. I know of no one, however, who has this 
breed for sale, at this time. 

44 Dr. Bennett, of Plymouth, has a few of them for 
breeding, which are very fine. For their age, however, 
the above specimens of Chittagongs are the largest and 
finest I ever yet met with. I have known the ' Great 
Malay ' species a good while, and have seen them near 
New York and around Philadelphia, where, at twelve to 
fifteen months old, they would draw fourteen to sixteen 
pounds the pair ; but I never yet saw a pair of fowls, of 
any breed, which, at less than seven months old, would 
weigh nineteen pounds — save those which are deline- 
ated in the above engraving. 

44 If any of your many readers have such specimens, (or 
better,) I shall be glad to ride a hundred miles, any 
week, to look at them. The two fowls above shown 
were hatched on the fourth day of June, 1849, and are 
consequently seven months old, this present week. 
These are specimens of my breeding stock, and I weighed 
them, on Saturday last, in presence of a member of the 
Committee of the late fowl show. The rooster draws 
3 



28 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 



ten and a half pounds, the pullet weighs eight and a half 
pounds, strong. This being over nineteen pounds for a 
pair of last summer's chickens, I think I may safely ask, 
• Can it be beat V 

" Yours, truly, G. P. B. 

" Fwxbury, Mass., Jan. 7, 1850." 




GREY CHITTAGONG HEN. 

The pullet above portrayed commenced laying on the 
13th day of January, and, in twenty-three days, laid 
seventeen eggs. These eggs were very large, and two 
broods of chickens are already in Mr. Burnham's yards, 
hatched from them. They are an exceedingly hardy 
fowl, and as their immense weight shows, come very 
early to maturity. 

For a cross, (upon the common barn-yard fowl,) the 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. . 29 

Chittagong is, without question, one of the best ever im- 
ported into this country. They are a beautiful ornament 
to the poultry-yard, and may be set down as the largest 
breed known in America at this day. 



THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 

The bird which next claims attention, is the famed 
Cochin China fowl. Numerous specimens were con- 
trbuted to the late exhibition, which were called "Cochin 
Chinas," but we have doubted, hitherto, whether any of 
this magnificent breed, in their purity, had ever crossed 
the water to our shores. Very little seems to be known, 
actually, in regard to them. 

Richardson says, in relation to this species, that they 
are "a gigantic bird, only recently introduced into Great 
Britain, and it is to that royal patroness of poultry fan- 
ciers, the nature-loving Victoria, that we owe its addi- 
tion to our stock of domestic fowls. Two fine speci- 
mens of the Cochin China fowl, but rather aged, were 
sent over by her Majesty to the cattle show of the Royal 
Dublin Society, April, 1846, and were subsequently pre- 
sented to the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord 
Heytesbury. The breed have since become compara- 
tively well known, and are now kept by several private 
persons and breeders. 

" This variety of fowl so far surpasses, both in size and 
power, all that we have ever yet seen in the shape of 
poultry, as to have led many persons not conversant with 
zoology, on first viewing them, to refer them to the fam- 
ily of Bustards. They are, however, genuine poultry. 
Their general color is rich, glossy brown, deep bay ; the 
comb is of a medium size, serrated, but not deeply so, 
and the wattles are double. Besides their gigantic size, 
however, these fowl possess other distinctive character- 
istics, among which I may mention, as the most striking, 
that the wing is jointed so that the posterior half can, at 
pleasure, be doubled up, and brought forward between 
the anterior half and the body. The birds can do this 



THE POULTRY BUEEDER. 




ROYAL COCHIN CHINA FOWLS. 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 31 

at pleasure, and the appearance the manoeuvre imparts 
to their form lias procured for them the title of * ostrich 
fowl.' The flesh is white and delicate. The eggs laid 
by the hen of this variety are large, of a chocolate color, 
and possess a very delicate flavor. They are very pro- 
lific, frequently laying two, and occasionally three eggs 
on the same day, and within a few moments of each 
other. An anonymous writer in the Gardimers' Chron- 
icle 'calls this statement of Mr. Richardson in question. 
He refers, as his authorities, to the Eight Honorable Mr. 
Shaw, the Recorder of Dublin, to her Majesty's poultry- 
keeper, Mr. Walters, and to Mr. Nolan, of Dublin. One 
of the hens, ' Bessy,' exhibited by her Majesty, laid 94 
eggs in 103 days." 

On the preceding page, we present portraits of a pair 
of " Royal Cochin China Fowls,'' imported by Geo. P. 
Burnham, Esq., of Roxbury, Mass., in January, 1850. 
This drawing was prepared expressly for our work, 
and is a fine delineation. The importation of Mr. 
Burnham consists of six fowls — two cocks and four pul- 
lets — and they are really splendid birds. Two of the 
pullets commenced laying in eighteen days after their 
arrival here, and the whole now promise very finely. 

The color and general characteristics of Mr. B.'s 
specimens compare with those of the best Shanghaes to 
be seen in this vicinity. The roosters are finely plumed, 
erect, noble fellows, and we should think would make 
very large birds. They are all young, being last fall 
chickens. 

The pullets are a yellowish brown, the ends of the 
feathers being tipt with black. They are deep-chested, 
full-bodied, high on the leg, proud birds, and show evi- 
dent signs of having been well bred. In the American 
Union of Feb. 2d, 1850, we find the following descrip- 
tion, given by the editor, who imported these fowls : — 

u By the steamer ' Niagara,' which arrived at this 
port last Saturday, we received from J. Joseph Nolan, 
Esq., of Dublin, a few pairs of real Cochin China fowls. 
These specimens are young birds, comparatively, but 



32 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

they possess all the points desirable in the choicest do- 
mestic fowls. 

" They have suffered very badly from the confinement 
on the passage across the Atlantic, but have already im- 
proved since their arrival. The color of the pullets is 
yellowish brown; the roosters, red and brown. They 
stand high upon the leg, their frames are very large, the 
model is handsome, and they attain to a great weight at 
maturity. The weight of the pullets is now very satis- 
factory, and the crowers promise to reach an enormous 
size when fully grown. 

" It is stated that pairs of these fowls have reached 
twenty-two to twenty-four pounds, in England. This 
is very heavy, and, we should judge, above the average. 
They are an unexceptionable fowl, however, and now 
rank among the favorites, for size, laying qualities, and 
easy keeping. We have never seen any of this variety, 
in New England, exactly like this importation — except 
in color — although the best specimens around us are 
very similar, as regards the general characteristics. 

" Those we have imported, when in condition, will 
weigh seventeen to eighteen pounds per pair, at their 
present age. They were hatched in July and August 
last. Their bodies are full, the forms symmetrical, the 
head and neck are handsomely modeled, and they bear 
a resemblance to the best " Shanghaes" we have here, 
with the exception of the tail, which is much longer than 
the others. The pullets are Tiot feathered upon the 
legs ; the roosters very slightly. These birds have been 
much admired, and we have no doubt they will prove 
fine. 

" How the Cochin Chinas are bred in England, we 
do not know. We should say, from observation, how- 
ever — and from the apparent character and habits of 
those we have procured — that there is a strong tincture 
of genuine Eastern blood in them. They are very ac- 
tive, proud, and prompt, and, if we do not mistake, our 
importation have brought over with them all the points 
incident to good and careful breeding. They are even- 
tempered (among our strange fowls) as one might wish. 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 33 

"They were bred by J. Joseph Nolan, Esq., and are 
said to be among the best ever sent from England. At 
a late English Agricultural Fair, this stock took the pre- 
mium, at the side of her Majesty, Queen Victoria's orig- 
inal Cochin Chinas. We weighed a pair of our pullets 
on Thursday last, and found them to draw six pounds 
and a half each ; this weight, even for six months old 
pullets, is very handsome. They should weigh, how- 
ever, (and did, the day before they started upon their 
voyage,) an average of nearly eight pounds. The plu- 
mage of both roosters and pullets is very pretty ; and if 
we do not mistake our calculation, we are now in pos- 
session of the choicest Cochin China stock in America." 

We saw a pair of these fowls weighed, on the 14th of 
February ; the cock drew eight and a half pounds, the 
pullet seven pounds, strong. The progeny of this import- 
ation will undoubtedly prove very fine, and we entertain 
no doubt that this Cochin China stock will become very 
popular. Mr B. informs us that the pullets have laid 
very regularly, since the commencement, and his orders 
for both eggs and chicks, from these fowls, are already 
very numerous. 

For laying qualities, excellent flesh, and general quiet- 
ness of disposition, the true " Cochin China" ranks 
among the foremost, according to all accounts. They 
are apparently a hardy bird, and we should judge were 
excellently well adapted to our climate. For beauty of 
model, at maturity, they are proverbial; and. all things 
considered, they rank, perhaps, deservedly high among 
the choicest breeds of fowls ever yet known. 

That the " Cochin China " and the " Shanghae" fowl 
originate from the same country and stock, we have no 
question. They are very like each other, generally — 
and all the best specimens we have yet seen in America 
resemble each other strongly. The Cochin Chinas are not 
feathered upon the leg; the Shanghaes are heavily leath- 
ered, uniformly. Some rare specimens of both these 
varieties will grace the next Fowl Exhibition in Boston. 



34 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 




SHANGHAE FOWLS, 
OF THE MARSH, FORBES, OR JELLETT VARIETIES J DRAWN FROM LIFE. 

Originals in possession of Geo. P. Burnham, Roxbury, Mass. 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 35 

THE SHANGHAE FOWL. 

We now come to a breed (or variety) which has got 
to be pretty well known throughout New England, and 
which is deservedly esteemed as a superior bird in every 
particular — whether we speak of size, color, prolific 
properties, the character of flesh, or any other attribute 
belonging to, or required by, the title of a really good 
domestic fowl. 

Among the very choicest specimens we have ever seen 
of the "Shanghae" fowl, (or Shanghai, as some pro- 
nounce it,) the Marsh and Parsons stock carries away 
the palm. The Forbes stock is uneven, comparatively, 
and the Jellett importation are not sufficiently known, 
yet, to decide upon ; the latter are a very beautiful bird, 
however, and we should say (from seeing a few of them) 
that they will prove very superior, in time. 

Dr. Bennett, and Mr. Drew, of Plymouth, Massachu- 
setts, Messrs. Alden and Marsh, of Dedharn, and West 
Roxbury, and Mr. Burnham, of Roxbury, have some 
beautiful samples of this breed. From the latter gen- 
tleman, we obtained our portraits, which were thus 
described in the Ploughman in January, 1850. This 
pair were on exhibition at the fowl show, in November. 
The writer says : — 

" The variety of domestic fowl which the above en- 
graving represents, is, in my estimation, one of the very 
best known in America at the present time, all things 
considered. The rooster and pullet above delineated 
show a pair selected from the breeding stock of G. P. 
Burnham, Roxbury, Massachusetts, and the artist has 
produced a life-like representation of them. The above 
pair are from a brood hatched in early May last ; the 
crower will now weigh over 8| lbs., the pullet 6|. They 
are out of the famous Forbes importation of Shanghae 
fowls. 

" I am confident that these fowls are confounded with 
the * Cochin Chinas ;' and I think that several persons 
who have this same stock now call it by that name. 
We have not had this variety in America long enough, 



36 THE POULTRY EREEDER. 

nor is the distinction sufficiently well known, I imagine, 
generally, to determine between the real Shanghae and 
the Cochin Chinas we have here, and more commonly 
known by this last name. I make the distinction on the 
ground that all my imported Shanghaes (and I have 
three different varieties, from different sources) are heav- 
ily feathered upon the legs. 

"My 'Cochin China' fowls — which I consider pos- 
sess all the good points that any specimens, classed under 
that name, do — have no feathers on the legs. The 
Shanghaes come from the mountains in the extreme 
north of China, fifteen hundred miles up the coast. 
The Cochin China fowl originates in the province of 
that name, lying in the extreme south of China. Now 
it seems to me that Nature may have provided the 
Shanghae fowl with feathers upon the legs and feet, as a 
protection, comparatively; for the country they inhabit is 
much colder than the other, and vice versa. 

" I may be in error, but such is my opinion, based 
upon the fact that wherever I have found fowls imported 
directly from either the north or the south, the above- 
named distinction actually exists — though many farm- 
ers and poulterers declare, spite of * feathers or no feath- 
ers,' that their fowls are ' Cochin Chinas' or ' Shanghaes* 
— just as they please. In some instances, I find that a 
decision on this point depends entirely upon which par- 
ticular kind you want to buy ! 

" One thing, however, is pretty well established, — the 
longer these fowls are bred as they have been in this 
climate, the less feathers will appear upon the legs, from 
time to time. That is to say, — the more we breed them 
in America, the less uniformity in this respect is appar- 
ent. A brood of chickens will be hatched, for instance, 
during the second or third season, from the original im- 
portation, and one half will come heavily feathered, one 
fourth moderately, and the rest but slightly feathered ; 
and, that this distinctive mark may or may not eventu- 
ally disappear here entirely, I do not pretend to decide. 
If, however, the breeding is kept up } by means of an 
occasional fresh importation — say once in three or four 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 37 

years — I imagine that the feature alluded to will always 
appear upon the Shanghaes; and I also believe that where 
it shows itself upon the Cochin Chinas, there is an evi- 
dent cross between the two — for the best specimens of 
the latter known (the Queen's variety, for instance) are 
entirely destitute of feathers on the legs. I am thus 
explicit, because I really think we have confounded the 
two varieties, in our New England breeding. As 1 have 
already remarked, however, I may be wrong. 

" I have also the Yellow Shanghaes, out of the Baylies 
importation, and the Brown Shanghaes, out of the Jel- 
lett importation. The annexed drawing gives a correct 
idea of the model, plumage, comparative size, and gen- 
eral carriage, of all these birds — than which, as I have 
already remarked, I think there are none better in Amer- 
ica, for goodness of disposition, for laying properties, for 
table use, or for early maturity. The roosters, when 
fully grown, will stand upright, as shown in the engrav- 
ing — the head about on a line with the height of a flour 
barrel. 

" The Shanghaes usually lay the first year. I have 
now two broods of Shanghae chickens from eggs laid by 
pullets hatched last spring; and very fine ones they are, 
even at this cold season. They are a very quiet fowl, 
and easily kept. They grow to a large size ; the parents 
of the above pair, at maturity, weighing over 18 lbs. As 
will be observed in the engraving, this variety is heavily 
feathered upon the legs. 

" The plumage varies from a light rich yellow to a 
reddish brown. The tail is short, comparatively ; the 
body is well formed ; the wings small, and high up on the 
side ; the gait proud and showy ; the legs, when young, 
rather lengthy for beauty; the head full sized; comb 
single, straight and serrated, and the feathers rather fine 
and downy, than otherwise. There is very little dispo- 
sition among them to quarrel ; the hens are excellent 
nurses, the roosters good ■ protectors,' and I have thus 
far found them hardy and healthy, generally. 

" There are but very few, if any, bona fide Shanghae 
fowls now for sale, in this region. Scores and hundreds 
4 



38 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

of Shanghaes (so called) are offered every week ; but 
this breed is altogether too rare, and the real l Simon 
pure ' will readily bring too high a price, at private sale, 
for these birds to be very common, at this time. The 
coming year, there will be more of them ; and, to the 
farmer, the poulterer, the fancier, or the breeder, I con- 
sider this fowl (in its purity) to be one of the most 
economical and most profitable of all the known large 
breeds. 

" I have had repeated and urgent applications for them 
this fall, but have no more to part with, at present. In 
the spring, I shall have some chickens to spare. They 
are an unexceptionable bird in all respects, and must 
become a great favorite, I think, hereafter, among our 
poulterers. G. P. B. 

u Roxbury y Mass. 11 

One of the earliest importations of Shanghaes was 
that of the Rev. Mr. Marsh, of West Roxbury, Mass. ; 
and which consisted of a cock, a hen, and two or three 
pullets. The color of the crower is a rich golden brown, 
(or yellow,) the color of the hens varying from a light 
to a greyish brown ; one of the latter is a very dark, or 
blackish brown. The chickens from this stock are very 
large, uniform in character, and are easily recognized 
anywhere, by those acquainted with the parent stock, 
which has now been in this country some three years, 
we learn. 

The Forbes stock is of a lighter plumage, generally, 
and more feathery ; though the birds appear as large as 
any of this class, to the eye, (from the thickness and 
length of their coats,) they will not compare favorably in 
weight, at the same age, either with the Parsons or 
the Marsh " Shanghaes." The latter, at maturity, will 
draw eight pounds each, (hens,) and eleven to twelve 
pounds each, (roosters,) on the average, if well cared for. 

The laying qualities of the Shanghaes are second to 
none, and fully equal, we imagine, even the lauded 
Cochin Chinas. We have known pullets of the Marsh 
and Parsons stock to lay 33 eggs in 36 days ; and have 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 39 

seen these pullets, which have been watched on the nest 
twenty-four or twenty-five days, leaving an egg behind 
them regularly, during this period, day after day. They 
are good nurses, good feeders, and merit all the good 
name which (in their purity) they now enjoy in this 
vicinity. 

THE PLYMOUTH ROCK FOWL. 

This bird is a cross of some two or three kinds of 
fowls, and the few specimens we have seen show them 
to be a very beautiful bird. Whether they will answer 
the expectations of their friends, we cannot say ; but 
we incline to the opinion that they are only a variety, 
made up from stock which will again produce the same 
(or a similar) progeny, but which progeny will scarcely 
produce its like, for continued generations. They were 
bred by Dr. J. C. Bennett, originally, of Plymouth, and 
were thus described in the Boston Cultivator in August, 
1849 : — 

" I have given this name to a very extra breed of fowls, 
which I produced by crossing a cockerel of Baylies' im- 
portation of Cochin China, with a hen, a cross between 
the Fawn-colored Dorking, the Great Malay, and the Wild 
Indian. Her weight is six pounds and seven ounces. 
The Plymouth Rock foivl, then, is, in reality, one half 
Cochin China, one, fourth Fawn-colored Dorking, one 
eighth Great Malay, and one eighth Wild Indian; having 
five primitive bloods, Shanghae, Malay, Game, Turkish, 
and Indian, traceable by referring to the history of those 
breeds and their crosses respectively. There are several 
of this breed (the Plymouth Rock) in Plymouth, from 
my original stock, belonging to Messrs. Perkins, Drew, 
Harlow, and myself, that are now a little over one year 
old ; the cockerels measure from 32 to 35 inches high, 
and weigh about ten pounds, and the pullets from six and 
a half to seven pounds each, — forming, in my opinion, 
the best cross that has ever been produced. 

u The pullets commenced laying when five months old, 
proving themselves very superior layers. Their eggs 
are of a medium size, rich, and reddish-yellow in color. 



40 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 



PLYMOUTH ROCK FOWLS. 




THE POULTRY BREEDER. 41 

Their plumage is rich and variegated; the cockerels, 
usually red or speckled, and the pullets darkish-brown. 
They are very fine fleshed, and easily fit for the table. 
Their legs are very large, and usually blue or green, but 
occasionally yellow or white, generally having five toes 
upon each foot. Some have their legs feathered, but 
this is not usual. They have large and single combs 
and wattles, large dewlaps, rather short tails, and small 
wings in proportion to their bodies. They are domes- 
tic, and not so destructive to gardens as smaller fowls. 
There is the same uniformity in size and general appear- 
ance, at the same age of the chickens, as in those of the 
pure bloods, or primary races. 

" The demand for this breed has exceeded all others 
during this season, and they have been sent into most 
of the New England States and Western NSw York. 
And all who may hereafter purchase from persons who 
have been supplied by myself, or either of the gentle- 
men above-named, may rely on the fowls being genuine, 
and of pure blood. I never sell to the same individual 
a cockerel and pullet of the same parentage, so they need 
not fear that the breed will be deteriorated by ' close ' 
breeding ; nor do I sell at any price, for breeders, any 
but those of the very first quality. This is the only way 
in which breeds can be retained in their purity and 
excellence. " 

Another writer, who had some choice specimens, 
(from which our drawings were made,) communicates 
the following to the Massachusetts Ploughman. These 
birds were also exhibited at the late fair, by G. P. Burn- 
ham, of Roxbury, Mass. The writer says : — 

" Herewith I send you a faithful representation of 
three of my Ply 'mouth Rock chickens, drawn from life by 
F. A. Durivage, and engraved by D. C. Hitchcock, of 
this city. The annexed picture represents a trio of a 
brood hatched the middle of April last. The rooster 
weighs 9\ lbs., the two pullets over 13 lbs., at the writ- 
ing of this communication. 

The stock came from Dr. Bennett, and I am daily 
more and more pleased with this fine species. I have 



42 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

the " Plymouth Rocks" at all ages, now, from a few days 
up to eight months old ; and my specimens embrace five 
or six different broods. The color of all of them is pecu- 
liarly uniform, and I am satisfied that the variety (or 
breed) is now being well established. The body plumage 
on the pullets is a rich deep brown, speckled with 
golden-tipt feathers ; the under down is black, (or a deep 
blue-black,) and the tail is brown, black and gold. 

" The legs of the pullets are very dark-colored, and 
one half of them, or more, are five-toed; but some of 
them do not come so. The comb is single, and the wat- 
tles thin and small. The head and neck are well 
formed, the legs are shorter than the average of fowls, 
and the hens are not only deep and broad-chested, but 
the bodies are proportionally very long, as you will ob- 
serve in the drawing. 

11 The roosters are noble birds — among the finest I 
have ever met with. I have two well-grown crowers, very 
similar in their appearance, carriage, color, size and gen- 
eral points ; the annexed is a true and life-like drawing 
of the male birds, which, for their age, will compare 
favorably — so far as my experience goes — with any 
known breed of domestic fowl. 

" I am satisfied that the Plymouth Eock fowl, care- 
fully bred, will become a most valuable one to the poul- 
terer or the agriculturist ; and I believe that a pair of the 
specimens shown in the accompanying engraving will 
weigh, at laying-time next spring, full eighteen pounds 

— perhaps more. I deem this ample, for size; and 
with the other good qualities of these fowls, which I 
have already tested — for laying, quietness, easy keep- 
ing, and general hardiness — I think these must cause 
them to rank among the very best in our country, event- 
ually. 

" The plumage of the roosters is dark red hackles, on 
neck and rump; the legs are bright yellow, slightly 
feathered; the body dark red and green, relieved with 
stray feathers of a golden tint ; and the under portion 
of the body and breast is a rich, deep, glossy blue-black 

— partaking of the plumage of the Wild Indian fowl, the 



THE POULTRY BREEDER* 43 

original cross. The t nil-plumes on the above crower are 
not grown out, as yet, of course, nor does he yet show 
any spur ; but he is pictured exactly as he is at this 
time, after his first moult. When in full plumage, the 
tail-feathers are heavy, and give the male bird not only 
a much larger proportionate appearance, but very greatly 
improve his form." 

Thus much for the "Plymouth Rock" fowl, — a bird 
which, with careful management, may eventually prove 
a very valuable one. 



THE DORKING FOWL. 

This bird is now well known in America, and is 
highly esteemed wherever it has been bred in its purity. 
There are so many spurious fowls palmed off upon a 
credulous and confiding public, however, for " Dorkings," 
that this fowl has not the best character in the world, in 
some regions. 

Mr. Giles, of Providence, and Dr. Wight, of Dedham, 
have done much to keep up the reputation and purity of 
this very fine stock ; and if it be carefully bred, there are 
but few fowls better to be found in this country. It is 
not a heavy fowl, at best ; but they are excellent layers* 
the best of mothers, their meat is delicate and inviting, 
they mature early, and are very hardy. The average 
weight of the Dorking is about six and a half to seven 
pounds for the cocks, and five to six pounds for the 
hens, well grown. 

The Dorking owes its name to its having been chiefly 
bred in a town of Surrey, Eng., of the same appellation. 
That the peculiarity of Jive toes, or, in other words, of 
two hind toes instead of one, is to be regarded as a dis- 
tinctive character of the breed, is by some writers ques- 
tioned, and by others wholly denied. For my part, I 
should say, that whenever this characteristic is absent, a 
cross has been at work. 

A writer on " Poultry," in Rees' Encyclopedia, is most 
positive in asserting the possession of five toes by the 



44 THE POULTRY BREEDER, 

Dorking fowl as "all a mistake;" but this person, says 
Richardson, whoever he may have boon, does not appear 
to have had even a correct idea o( the fowl about which 
he wrote. For instance, he says that the Dorking fowl 
has a long body ! — on the contrary, the body of the Dork- 
in ^r fowl is rounds pbanp and short. 

I did not, however, mean to assert that this posses- 
sion o( two hind toes, instead of one, has never oeeurrcd 
in any other family of fowls except those bred at Dork- 
ing, in Surrey; for Aristotle has mentioned the existence 
o( a similar peculiarity among certain fowl in Greece, 
and both Collumella and Pliny assert the existence of 
such, in their time, in Italy ; so also does Aldrovand ; and 
these authors lived hundreds of years ago ; and, oddly 
enough, these breeds were remarkable, as are our own 
Dorking, for being good layers and good sitters. 

The color of the Dorking- is generally pure white, 
spotted or spangled with black ; these colors will some- 
times merge into a gray or grizzle. These birds have 
been long- prized, and it is now many years since their 
superiority over our ordinary domestic varieties was orig- 
inally discovered and appreciated ; they were first no- 
ticed, and the variety adopted, by the Cumberland breed- 
ers, whence they were soon carried into Lancashire and 
Westmoreland, and gradually spread over nil England. 
They have not, as yet, become generally known in Ire- 
land, but they are, nevertheless, to be found in many- 
parts of that country. Whether, however, from injudi- 
cious treatment, or imperfect feeding, or change of cli- 
mate, or from whatever cause, it is certain that, when 
met with for from their native place, they appear greatly 
to have degenerated from their original superiority of 
character. 

In size, Mowbray says, they rank in the third degree 
in the list of the largest of domesticated fowls. They are 
well shaped, having a capacious body, and shortish legs, 
and should have five claws on each foot. The absence 
of a fifth claw is, however, not considered a proof of spu- 
rious breeding. They make an excellent stock for the 
farm or market They fat well, lay well, and rear well; 



\ 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 



45 



are handsome alive, and show delicately white when 
prepared for cooking. General opinion has accorded to 
this breed the highest character for laying, and also for 
arriving at early maturity. 



SPANISH FOWLS. 

The Black Spanish (or Italian) fowls are a favorite 
bird among many poulterers ; and there are " fanciers " 
who have paid a round price for them (in this ilk) dur- 
ing the last season. They are a large, showy, fine-look- 
ing bird, and, it is said, though they are clad in the 
11 blackest of plumage," they possess the reverse of black 
flesh. 




SPANISH COCK. 



" I regard these birds," says Richardson, " as the re- 
sult of the highest artificial culture, and adduce, in sup- 



46 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

port of my opinion, their unusually large comb and wat- 
tles, characteristics not commonly to be met with among 
the primitive varieties. 




SPANISH HEN. 

" The Spanish fowl is, perhaps, a little inferior in size 
to the old * Shakebag,' but in every other quality, where- 
in excellence and value are to be looked for, it is more 
than that bird's equal. The color of the Spanish fowl 
is black, and the feathers of the legs, thighs, and belly, 
are particularly decided in their hue, and of a velvety 
aspect. It is a stately bird, and of a grave and majestic 
deportment, and is, in either utility or beauty, to be sur- 
passed by none of its congeners. One of the most strik- 
ing characteristics of this fowl is a white cheek, and the 
comb and wattles are singularly large, simple, and of a 
very high color ; the feet and legs are of a leaden color, 
except the soles of the feet, which are of a dirty fleshy 
hue. This is a fowl well deserving the attention of the 
breeder. They have long been naturalized in these 
islands, and are consequently well * climatizedj and pre- 
sent no peculiarities of constitution that would suggest 
difHculties in either hatching or rearing. As table birds 
they hold a place in the very first rank, their flesh being 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 47 

particularly white, tender, and juicy, and the skin pos- 
sessing that beautifully clear white hue, so essential a 
requisite for birds designed for the consumption of the 
gourmand. The hens are likewise layers of the first 
order. 

" They are, besides, prolific, extremely easily fed, and, 
in short, I know of no fowl I would rather recommend to 
the notice of the breeder ; but let me here observe, that 
spurious specimens of this fowl are often in the market, 
which will occasion, perhaps, an equal outlay to their 
original purchase — will decidedly cost as much to feed 
— be, perhaps, harder to rear, but will most unques- 
tionably not bring in an equal return in the way of profit. 
By applying, in the first instance, to a breeder of known 
respectability, you will avoid much disappointment; and 
though you may conceive the price demanded of you to 
be high, it may not, perhaps, at the same time, be higher 
than what you might have foolishly paid for a bad 
article ; and even should you have to lay out a few shil- 
lings extra, do so willingly, and, recollecting the old 
proverb, avoid being ' penny wise and pound foolish.' " 



THE "BOLTON GREY," OR CREOLE FOWL. 

This diminutive fowl has latterly attracted considera- 
ble attention among our farmers ; and in the region of 
Portsmouth, N. H., and Newburyport,,Mass., there are, 
at this time, some very fine broods of " Bolton Greys" 
to be seen. The laying qualities of these birds are 
good, and, like the Polanders, they are not much inclined 
to sit. They are quite small, however, being, in size, 
next in the scale above the Bantam, as a general thing. 

" This variety," says Mowbray, " apparently the crack 
breed of their vicinity, but entirely unknown in the 
metropolis, (London,) is described by the Rev. Mr. Ash- 
worth, near Bolton, Lancashire, as follows : ' Small- 
sized, short in the leg, and plump in the make. The 
color of the genuine kind invariably pure white in the 
w T hole cappel of the neck; the body white, thickly 
spotted with bright black, sometimes running into a 



48 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

grizzle, with one or more black bars at the extremity of 
the tail; they are chiefly esteemed as very constant 
layers, though their color would mark them for good 
table food.' " 




BOLTON GREYS. 



In a letter from Thomas P. Hunt, Esq., to che editor 
of the New England Farmer, he says, " I have not been 
able to ascertain the ' habitat ' of the Creole. They are 
white, with black spots all over, except the neck, which 
is perfectly white. Their tails are more fan-like, or dis- 
played, during laying time, and their rumps present a 
fuller or more elevated appearance than other fowls. 
The ends of the tail-feathers are generally blackish. 
They are capital layers — poor sitters." 



POLAND OR POLISH " TOP-KNOT " FOWL. 

This beautiful bird has now become pretty generally 
established in the American farm-yard; and in New 
England, especially, the Poland "Top-knot" is exten- 
sively known. They are a small fowl, in comparison 
with many others, however. Their laying qualities are 
rated among the best, and as they do not usually incline 
to sit much, they are esteemed by many as a first-rate 
fowl for the ordinary purposes of a family. They have 
been called " everlasting layers," by some persons, for the 
reason that they are pretty constant in their yield of eggs. 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 49 

Mowbraj says, " The Polandcrs are not only kept as 
ornamental, but they are of the most useful varieties, 
particularly on account of the abundance of the eggs 
they lay, being least inclined to sit of any other breed, 
whence they are sometimes called everlasting layers, and 
it is usual to sit their eggs under other hens. They 
fatten as quickly as any other breed, and in quality sim- 
ilar to the Dorking; their flesh, perhaps, more juicy, and 
of a richer flavor." 

" Besides the Polanders, there is a small variety 
imported from Holland, called every day hens, which are 
everlasting layers. Their eggs, generally, are not so 
large as those of the common hens, nor equally substan- 
tial and nutritious. " 

11 The whole breed of crested fowls," says Boswell, " is 
much esteemed by the curious, and reared with care." 



BLACK POLAND FOWLS. 

"The Poland," says L. F. Allen, in the American 
Agriculturist, " is a shining black in color, with a beau- 
tiful white tuft on its head, a medium size, a good layer, 
seldom sitting to hatch, rather tender to rear while a 
chicken, and more thinly feathered, and not so hardy in 
colds and storms, as the common hen. In a great part 



50 THE POULTRY BREEDER, 

of the United States it will thrive successfully, and lay- 
as many eggs as any other fowl. 

" Its flesh is good ; — on the whole, a handsome and 
profitable fowl. There is a white variety, without a 
feather of any other color. These are very beautiful, but 
not quite so hardy as the black. There is also a splen- 
did gold and black, or pheasant-colored variety. These 
are scarce in the United States. I have seen several 
beautiful specimens imported from England; but was 
never able to obtain any for breeding. These colors are 
more propagated by the poultry-fanciers than others, and 
are seldom to be had of them." 

The above-mentioned variety of Polish fowl is de- 
scribed by Mowbray correctly, but Mr. Richardson thinks 
that writer errs in supposing its original country to have 
been Holland. "These birds," says Mr. R., "were 
brought from St. Jago by the Spaniards, to whom they 
owe their first introduction into Europe. Their color is 
a shining black, and both cock and hen have the white 
top-knot. The head is flat, surmounted by a fleshy pro- 
tuberance, out of which spring the crown-feathers con- 
stituting the tuft. These are remarkably good layers, 
and will, if kept warm, lay nearly throughout the year ; 
and it is this cause, probably, that has induced Mowbray 
and other writers to confound them with the Dutch 
breed, which, from a similar circumstance, have been 
styled * every day layers.' 

" Another variety of Polish fowl is the most pure 
and unmixed of all; it is, indeed, the uncontaminated 
descendant of the great fowl of St. Jago. Its color is a 
brilliant white, with a jet-black top-knot. This variety 
was described by Aldrovand, and more recently by Dr. 
Bechstein. I have never myself seen a specimen of the 
breed, and have every reason to suppose it to be extinct, 
or very nearly so. Applications have been made to 
several persons in both Germany and Poland, connected 
with the poultry fancy, for the purpose of procuring 
specimens of these birds, at any cost ; but the answers 
returned were, without one exception, that they were no 
longer to be had." 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 51 



THE GAME FOWL. 



This variety has long heen known upon our continent, 
and at the south it is bred for its pugnacity much more 
than by our cooler-blooded New Englanders. In Cuba 

— especially in the vicinity of Havana — the game 
cock is a great favorite ; and thousands of doubloons are 
lost and won, every year, by those who are afflicted with 
the " cock-fighting fancy," and who are not troubled with 
a better business than pitting these brave fellows against 
each other ! 

The game fowl is one of the most gracefully-formed 
and most beautifully-colored of oar domestic breeds of 
poultry; and in its form, aspect, and that extraordinary 
courage which characterizes its natural disposition, ex- 
hibits all that either the naturalist or the sportsman 
would at once recognize as the beau ideal of high blood 

— embodying, in short, all the most indubitable charac- 
teristics of gallinaceous aristocracy. 




ENGLISH GAME COCK. 



" We do not possess any very satisfactory record of the 
original country of the game fowl, but I am disposed," 
says Eichardson, " to cede that honor to India, the 
natives of which country have always been remarkable 



52 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

for their love of cock-fighting ; and we also know that 
there still exists in India an original variety of game 
cock, very similar to our own, but inferior in point of 
size. As to the date or occasion of their first introduc- 
tion into the British islands, we know nothing certain ; 
but I think it probable that we owe it to the invasion of 
Julius Coesar, the Eomans having been very fond of the 
sport of cock-fighting. 

" The earliest record of cock-fighting in England is in 
the time of Fitzstephen, who wrote the life of Thomas 
a Becket, in the reign of Henry II., about A. D. 1100. 

" The game fowl is somewhat inferior in size to other 
breeds, and in his shape he approximates more closely to 
the elegance and lightness of form usually characteristic 
of a pure and uncontaminated race. Amongst poultry 
he is what the Arabian is amongst horses, the high-bred 
short-horn amongst cattle, and the fleet greyhound 
amongst the canine race. 

" The flesh of the game fowl is beautifully white, as well 
as tender and delicate. The hens are excellent layers ; 
and although the eggs are somewhat under the average 
size, they are not to be surpassed for richness of flavor. 
Our engraving is taken from a spirited English illustration, 
and the variety of fowl portrayed is a larger bird than 
the average of Spanish game fowl. The natural dispo- 
sition of the game fowl to quarrel, however, precludes 
the possibility, almost, of raising the birds, in this vicin- 
ity, to any advantage ; and though their flesh is very 
delicate and rich, and they are good layers, we cannot 
recommend them as being of any utility in the farm- 
yard." 

It is next to impossible to raise a brood of pure " bloods," 
without the nicest care ; a cross of a larger fowl with the 
game cock is thought by some to produce a profitable 
progeny. But we are decidedly opposed to any mixture 
of blood, except for mere experiment's sake, There are 
plenty of fine varieties (in their purity) around us, good 
enough for any and all useful purposes. 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 



53 



THE BANTAM FOWL. 

The beautiful little domestic bird known as the Ban- 
tam is originally from a province of that name, in Java. 
In this country we have every kind of color and com- 
parative size of " Bantam ;" but, in their purity, the " Sir 
John Seabright," the " Java," or the " African" varieties, 
are rare birds. Our portraits are from a pair of the first- 
named, which we consider decidedly the finest variety 
— being the smallest, and most elegantly formed, (of this 
species,) that we have ever seen. These birds are a pair 
out of imported stock, now in possession of G. P. Burn- 
ham, Esq., of Roxbury, Mass. The likeness is very cor- 
rect of these 




SIR JOHN SEABRIGHT BANTAMS. 

" This bird," says Richardson, " has its legs perfectly 
naked to the toes, and approaches in form more nearly 
to the game breed. The high-bred cock of this breed 
should have a rose comb, full hackles, a well-feathered 
and well-carried tail, a stately, courageous demeanor, 
and should not be quite a pound weight. The favorite 
color is a golden yellow, the feathers edged with black, 
the wings barred with purple, tail-feathers and breast 
black. The Bantam possesses high courage, and will 
fight with great resolution." 

Aldrovand describes the cock with the neck and the 
back of a chesnut color; the wings at first black, with 
whitish spots, afterwards black ; the quill-feathers beir,£ 



54 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

white on the outer and black on the inner sides ; the 
throat, breast, belly, thighs and legs, black, with whitish 
spots ; the feet yellow ; the wattles large ; comb double, 
and not very large ; the beak yellow ; the tail-feathers 
partly white and partly black. The hen is of a yellow- 
ish color. The males are wonderful crowers, and ex- 
ceedingly pugnacious. They arrive at maturity early, 
and are well worthy of propagation. 

The American Agriculturist says : " The Bantam is 
a beautiful little bird, usually white in color, with short 
legs, feathered oftentimes to the extremity of its toes* 
It is often of variegated colors, inclined to red, brown, 
and white, prettily mixed. Occasionally a variety is 
met with that are smooth-legged. They are very domes- 
tic, often making their nests in the kitchen and cupboards 
of the dwelling, when permitted. They are excellent 
layers, and good nurses." 

The following instance of the attachment of a Bantam 
cock to his mate is related in a late English publication. 
Speaking of the cock, the author says : " He is capable 
of such attachment to his mate, that we remember a 
Bantam cock and hen which were kept for some years 
as favorites, without any others, in the stable-yard of our 
father, and when, at length, the hen died, the cock, see- 
ing her lifeless, but naturally unconscious of its being a 
final separation, hovered around her, calling to her, and 
pecking at her gently, as if to awake her. Though corn 
was offered to him, he refused to eat, or to roost at night, 
but moped round the yard, vainly searching for his old 
companion, when not rinding her, he flew away, and was 
never after heard of." 



THE COMMON MALAY FOWL. 



This is a large, heavy-boned, massive-framed bird; 
they are not considered among the best, either for laying, 
sitting, or for their flesh; the latter being coarse and 
" stringy," comparatively. 

Mowbray says, " They are good layers, and being well 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 55 

fed, produce the largest of hen's eggs, and of the most 
substantial nutriment. Being too long legged, they are 
not generally steady sitters. They are large birds, coarse 
meat, and not worth breeding from." 




MALAY HEN. 

<f The Malay," says a writer in the American Agricul- 
turist, " is an awkward, bony, leggy, cowardly race ; 
wandering about for the first six months of its life with 
scarcely a feather to cover its nakedness, and almost for- 
ever in coming to maturity ; a wretched layer, and worse 
sitter, usually breaking half its eggs in the operation ; 
an indifferent nurse, and never yielding, in either its eggs, 
flesh, or appearance, half enough to compensate for the 
anxious and vexatious labor of its rearing. When half 
grown, or in moulting time, it looks more like a sand- 
hill crane than a domestic fowl ; and although it some- 
times gains a weight of seven, or even ten pounds, its 
flesh is coarse, and lacks the delicacy and richness of the 
well-bred chicken. Its color runs through all shades, 
from a light yellow to a brownish black, with little vari- 
ation on the same lines. They are, withal, great eaters ; 
and although at the south they may both thrive anct, 



56 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

lay better than at the north, they are not to be recom- 
mended as a valuable kind of fowl. Their eggs are 
large, of a buff or light brownish color, sometimes almost 
speckled, like the turkey's. They seldom lay more than 
ten or twelve at a litter." 

Dr. Kittridge says : " The Malay is a large, noble fowl, 
weighing from eight to twelve pounds. They are good 
layers, eggs large, and hatch well. They are hardy — I 
have never lost a chicken ; come early to maturity, and 
their meat is excellent. I should think them superior to 
any other breed for market." 



BANKIVA FOWL. 



Dickson describes the Bankiva fowl (which some sup- 
pose to be the original stock of our domestic varieties) 
as follows : — 




BANKIVA COCK. 



" The cock has a thin, indented, or scolloped comb, 
and wattles under the mouth ; the tail a little elevated 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 57 

above the level of the rump, and the feathers somewhat 
disposed in the form of tiles. The feathers of the neck 
are long, falling down, and rounded at the tips, and are 
of the finest gold color. The head and neck arc fawn- 
colored; the wing-coverts are dusky brownish and black; 
the tail and belly are black. The hen is of a dusky ash- 
grey and yellowish color, and has her comb and beard 
much smaller than the cock, with no feathers on the 
neck besides the long hackles.'' 

" The specimens of these fowls, male and female, were 
brought from the island of Java by M. Leschenaust, and 
deposited in the Museum of Paris. They inhabit the 
forests and borders of woods, and are exceedingly wild. 
On examining this species, it will be found to exhibit 
many points of resemblance with our common barn-door 
fowls of the smaller or middling size. The form and 
color are the same, the comb and wattles are similar, and 
the hen so much resembles the common hen, that it is 
difficult to distinguish it, except by the less erect slant 
of the tail. 

" This rise of the tail is much more apparent in the 
male ; but it may be observed, that in all the wild species 
known, the tail does not rise so high above the level of 
the rump, nor is it so abundantly provided with covering 
feathers, as in the common birds. Probably the super- 
abundance of nourishment, and the assiduous care of 
man, have contributed to the greater development of all 
their organs. Different tame breeds, indeed, such as the 
tufted fowl, the Hamburgh, double-combed varieties, and 
others, show that domestication, probably on account of 
superabundant feeding, produces infinite varieties. 

14 The reasons for believing that the Bankiva fowl is 
the wild stock from which our tame varieties derive at 
least their main origin are, the close resemblance of their 
females to our tame hens, the nature of the feathers, and 
the forms and distribution of the barbs, which are abso- 
lutely the same in our tame cocks ; and because it is in 
this species alone that the females are provided with a 
comb and small wattles, characters not found in any 
other of the wild species which are known." 



58 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 



THE RUMKIN OR TAIL-LESS FOWL. 

This bird is distinguished by the total absence of the 
caudal extremity. Some suppose it to be a distinct 
species, descended from the wild breed of Ceylon. Among 
the wild birds the comb is not indented ; it is so with the 
tame ; and is, in the latter case, frequently double. Buf- 
fon supposed this fowl to be a native of America, but 
Dickson declares him to have been in error, having been 
misled by the circumstance of these birds being domes- 
ticated very commonly in Virginia. Others have supposed 
this fowl to be a native of Persia, and Latham even 
names it the " Persian Cock." It is, however, of very 
little practical importance whence the Kumkin originally 
came, the bird possessing neither good flesh nor affording 
good eggs. 



THE BARN-DOOR FOWL. 

I describe these fowl separately; for, although the 
designation of " Barn-door fowl" may be applicable also 
to the Dunghill, I regard the former appellation as pos- 
sessing a far more extended signification. 

The Barn-door fowl embrace, of course, several sub- 
varieties. Few of our high-priced breeds, except in 
some places the Dorking and the Polish, have, as yet, 
become so common as to be included in the list ; but 
crosses of the common Dunghill breed with the Malay, 
Dorking, Polish or Spanish, are very frequently to be 
met with. 

Doctor Bechstein enumerates eight distinct varieties 
of barn-door fowl, viz : — 

1. The fowl with the small comb. 

2. The crowned fowl. 

3. The silver-colored fowl. 

4. The slate-blue fowl. 

5. The chamois-colored fowl. 

6. The ermine-like fowl. 

7. The widow ; with tear-like spots on a dark ground. 

8. The fire and stone colored fowls. 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 59 



THE DUNGHILL FOWL. 

The Dunghill fowl occupies in the poultry-yard pre- 
cisely the position of the cur dog in the kennel, being, in 
fact, the produce of a miscellaneous intermixture of most 
of the ordinary domestic varieties, and constantly differ- 
ing in its appearance with the accidents which may have 
influenced its parentage. 




DUNGHILL COCK. 

The poultry-yards of many of our country friends 
abound with this kind of fowl, and we have seen some 
very fair specimens of the " good old-fashioned" Dung- 
hills, which farmers admire more or less. There are so 
many finer breeds around us now, however, that we 
believe the character of this species (which is varied, but 
indescribable ! ) will be improved, in time. There is 
ample room for such improvement ; and this hint may 
serve to stimulate, in some measure, our good country 
friends to avail of the opportunity to better themselves. 



SPANGLED HAMBURGH FOWL. 



This really pretty bird may be set down as one of the 

most beautiful in plumage, and graceful in carriage, of 

all the varieties upon our shores. The engravings which 

we give of these fowls are copied from an English work, 

6 



60 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

and the feathery covering which appears upon the crown 
and neck of the crower is a good deal more hood-like 
than that which appears upon the roosters grown in 
America ; the latter being heavily tufted, only. They 
have been generally called here the 




"golden pheasant," or "golden top-knot" fowl. 

Beautiful specimens of this bird have been bred by 
Col. Jaques, of " Ten Hills Farm," by Dr. Bennett, of 
Plymouth, and others in Massachusetts; and we find 
them described by Richardson, as follows : — 

" The Spangled Hamburgh fowl are divided into two 
varieties, the distinctive characteristics being slight, and 
nearly altogether dependent upon color ; these varieties 
are termed the Golden and Silver Spangled. The former 
will suffice for me to describe, as the points of form, &c, 
excepting only color, are identical. 

" This fowl is one of great beauty. It is well and 
neatly made, has a good body, and very little offal. On 
the crest, immediately above the beak, are two small 
fleshy horns, resembling, to some extent, an abortive 



THE TOULTRY BREEDER. Gl 

comb. Above this crest, and occupying the position of 
a comb, is a large brown or yellowish tuft, the feathers 
composing it darkening towards the extremities. Under 
the insertion of the lower mandible (or that portion of 
the neck corresponding to the chin in man) is a full, 
dark-colored tuft, somewhat resembling a beard. These 
fowl gained the first prize at a national exhibition in 
Ireland, in 1847. The wattles are very small. In the 
golden variety, the hackles on the neck are of a brilliant 
orange, or golden yellow; and the general ground-color 
of the body is of the same hue, but somewhat darker. 
The thighs are of a dark brown or blackish shade, and 
the legs and feet are of a bluish grey. 




"GOLDEN PHEASANT," OR TOP-KNOT HEN. 

" In the Silver Spangled variety, the only perceptible 
difference is, that the ground-color is a silvery white. 
The extremity, and a portion of the extreme margin of 
each feather, are black, presenting, when in a state of 
rest, the appearance of regular semi-circular marks or 
spangles — and hence the name of * Spangled Ham- 
burgh, ' the varieties being termed gold or silver, accord- 
ing to the prevailing color being bright yellow, or silvery 
white. In mere excellence of flesh and as layers, they 
are inferior to the Dorking or Spanish varieties," 



62 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE TURKEY. 

Various opinions have been promulgated relative to 
the original country of the turkey, but it is now ascer- 
tained, beyond a doubt, to have been America ; and 
it is in this country alone that the true original of the 
domestic turkey is yet to be met with in all its primitive 
wildness, clothed in its natural plumage, genuinely wild 
in all its habits, the unreclaimed denizen of the wilder- 
ness. As to the medium through which this bird was 
first introduced into Europe, much doubt still exists, and 
we have, indeed, no authentic proof as to either the 
period of time, or by what agency, that event took place. 
In 1530, the turkey was introduced into England. 

" No one," says Mr. Richardson, " who has seen only 
the domesticated inhabitant of the poultry-yard, can form 
any idea of its wild original. The cock measures about 
three feet and a half, or nearly four feet, in length, and 
almost six in expanse of the wings. The skin of the 
head is of a bluish color, as is also the upper part of the 
neck, and is marked with numerous reddish, warty ele- 
vations, with a few black hairs scattered here and there. 

" The hen is less in size than the cock ; her legs are* 
destitute of spurs ; her neck and head are less naked, 
being furnished with short, dirty grey feathers; the 
feathers on the back of the neck have brownish tips, 
producing, on that part, a brown, longitudinal band. 
She also frequently, but not invariably, wants the tuft 
of feathers on the breast. Her prevailing color is a 
dusky grey, each feather having a metallic band, less 
brilliant than that of the cock; then a blackish band, 
and a greyish fringe. 

" The hen is a very close sitter, and will, when sha 
has chosen a spot, seldom leave it on account of its being 
discovered by a human intruder. Should she find one 
of her eggs, however, sucked by a snake, or other enemy, 
she abandons the nest forever. When the eggs are near 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 



63 



hatching, the hen will not forsake her nest while life 
remains. 

" The young are very sensible to the effects of damp ; 
hence, after a rainy season, wild turkeys are always 
scarce. The flesh of the wild turkey is very superior to 
that of the domestic bird ; yet that of such of the latter 
as have been suffered to roam at large in the woods and 
plains is, in no respect, improved by this partially wild 
mode of life." 




THE DOMESTIC TURKEY. 

In the case of the turkey, domestication has, as in 
that of most reclaimed animals, produced a diversity of 
color, which, by cultivation, whether owing to fancy or 
some supposed inherent excellence residing in the various 
tints, has now furnished us with several so-called varie- 
ties or breeds, differing in their plumage ; thus we have 
the black, the white, the copper-color, the brown, the 
bronze, the dusky-grey, &c. ; they are, however, of 
course, all the descendants of their great American orig- 
inal. 



64 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

As to the relative value of the ordinary varieties, it 
would be almost difficult to offer an jppinion ; but those 
who suppose the ivhite turkey to be " the most robust 
and most easily fattened, " are decidedly mistaken, both 
in theory, as far as analogy may guide us, and in prac- 
tice, where the certain test of experience has shown to 
the contrary. The bronze and copper-colored varieties 
are generally undersized, and are amongst the most diffi- 
cult of all to rear ; but their flesh is certainly very deli- 
cate, and, perhaps, more so than that of other kinds. 

The brown and ashy-grey are not particularly remark- 
able, but the black are decidedly superior, (insists Mr. 
Richardson,) in every respect, not only as regards greater 
hardiness, and a consequent greater facility of rearing, 
but as acquiring flesh more readily, and that being of 
the very best and primest quality. Those of this color 
appear to be less far removed from the original wild 
stock. 

With respect to the best mode of keeping turkeys, let 
them have a large, roomy, open shed, sufficiently pro- 
tected, of course, from the weather, and, above all. from 
moisture. Let the perches be high, and here, observe, 
you will do well not to omit the use of the hen ladder ; 
for although these birds can usually fly well, still, when 
fat, they become too heavy for their wings, and are apt 
to injure themselves in their descent from a lofty perch, 
especially when in confinement ; when at full liberty, 
they can take better care of themselves. During warm 
weather they may be permitted to select their own roost- 
ing-places on the trees about a farm ; but should be well 
watched, lest they stray away ; and this indulgence 
should on no account be granted them if frost be antici- 
pated, as their toes are tender, and apt to become frost- 
bitten. Indeed, summer is the only time of the year 
when this out-roosting may, with safety, be permitted. 

The turkey is a most profitable bird, for it can almost 
wholly provide for itself about the roads and fields ; 
snails, slugs, and worms, are among the number of its 
dainties, and the nearest stream serves to slake its thirst. 
To the farmer, however, it is often a perfect nuisance, 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 65 

from its love of grain, and should, therefore, be kept in 
the yard until all corn is too strong in the root to present 
any temptations. 

Notwithstanding the separation which, with the ex- 
ception of certain seasons, subsists in a wild state between 
the cock and hen turkey, they have been brought to feed 
and live amicably together in a state of domesticity. 
The former, however, retains sufficient of his hereditary 
propensities to give an occasional sly blow to a chick, 
or forward poult, but that very seldom of a seriously 
malicious character. 

Mascall, in describing a turkey cock, (such as the 
breeder should select,) says, that he should be "a bird 
large, stout, proud, and majestical; for when he walketh 
dejected, he is never good." 

M. Parmentier says, that both cock and hen should 
have short legs, full shapes, and general vivacity and 
energy in all their movements ; likewise, that they 
should be both well-shaped, and in healthy condition. 

Mascall says, that the cock should not be " passing a 
yere or two yeres old ; three yeres is the most, and too 
much," &c. 

For my own part, I hold a turkey cock, at the age of 
three years, to be only in his prime, and to continue, in 
every respect, suitable for your purpose, until five. The 
hen is at her prime younger, and, probably, at the sec- 
ond year is as good as ever she will be afterwards. 

It has been stated by some, and yet as positively de- 
nied by others, that one fecundation will render all the 
eggs of that laying fertile; still, however, were it my 
own case, I should prefer making " assurance doubly 
sure," by allowing one cock to every dozen or fourteen 
hens. Even this, however, will render it unnecessary 
for every poor man who may desire to breed turkeys to 
have a cock, as one cock will thus prove amply sufficient 
for the hens of a whole townland. This fact should 
encourage landlords to keep a good turkey cock of a 
valuable breed, and so afford their humbler tenantry an 
opportunity of improving upon the commoner varieties 
they may possess. 






66 THE TOULTRY BREEDER. 

The approach of the laying- season is easily known by 
the increased liveliness and proud strut of the hen ; and 
she, likewise, further expresses her feelings by a peculiar 
self-satisfied cry, that soon becomes familiar to the ob- 
server. This usually takes place in the month of March, 
(nearly a month earlier than the wild bird.) When the 
breeder perceives these symptoms, he should provide a 
nest, and put an egg, or a bit of chalk formed like one, 
into it, to induce the hen to commence laying there. 
Partaking of the retiring propensities of the wild hen, 
(although she has not equal reason to dread the destruc- 
tive passions of the cock,) the turkey is a secret layer, 
and does her best to elude the vigilance of her keeper, 
and steal away to some secluded spot. The peculiar 
note of which I have spoken betrays, however, the fact; 
and whoever has the care of the fowl should trace her 
to her retirement, and bring her back to the nest pre- 
pared for her. 

The time when the hen turkey lays is usually morn- 
ing. Some lay daily ; others only every second day. 
The number of eggs laid is commonly from fifteen to 
twenty ; but this varies with the age of the bird, a hen 
of mature age laying more and larger eggs than one of 
a year old. When the turkeys are to be let out in the 
morning, you may examine the hens, and keep in such 
as are about to lay. This precaution will, of course, 
prevent the loss of a single egg. While the hen is lay- 
ing, the cock should be kept from her, as he would ill- 
treat her and break the eggs. The eggs should be taken 
away as soon as laid, lest they might be broken, through 
the awkwardness of the hen, or sucked by vermin. They 
will keep till the hens are done laying, if put in a basket, 
and hung up in a dry place. It is unnecessary to keep 
the eggs belonging to each hen in a separate place. The 
turkey is not troubled w r ith any very exclusive feelings, or, 
rather, her disposition overflows with an excess of mater- 
nal love ; for she will rear a clutch belonging to another 
quite as carefully as if they were her own, and will, also, 
if required, hatch the eggs of ducks, geese, or common 
fowl. In the second laying, the eggs are fewer in num- 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 67 

ber, seldom exceeding from ten to thirteen ; and, on this 
occasion, extra care is requisite. 

The turkey hen is a most persevering sitter; and 
when her eggs are taken away, she would sit upon 
stones, if she could not procure the eggs of another bird, 
and would perish before quitting the nest. Eggs should, 
therefore, be left with her, not only to tranquillize her, 
but because sitting upon eggs fatigues her less than sit- 
ting upon an empty nest ; but these eggs must be marked, 
in order to distinguish them from those the poor bird 
continues to lay ; for any eggs that seem to her to be 
slow of hatching will be abandoned, as she will quit the 
nest as soon as she perceives the chick; consequently, 
as soon as the eggs you have placed under her are 
hatched, she will leave the nest, and the eggs of her 
own laying will be sacrificed. Remove, therefore, the 
former. Keep the nest clean while the turkey hen is 
sitting, as dirt will injure the eggs. No one should go 
near a hen when sitting, except her keeper ; and no one 
should turn the eggs, or meddle with them further than 
I have already indicated. The bird will turn her eggs 
with more judgment than you can. 

On the thirty-first day of sitting, the chicks leave the 
eggs ; but as some quit their prison before others, they 
must be placed in a basket filled with feathers, and if 
the weather be cold, placed in some warm spot. When 
all are out, they may be given to the hen. Sometimes 
the chick will require assistance in leaving the egg; and 
if so, the same caution must be observed that I have 
insisted upon in the case of the common fowl. Be very 
sparing of your aid, or you may do far more harm than 
good. 

Many writers recommend a vast deal of quackery in 
the treatment of the young chicks. Some go the length 
of ordering them wine, pepper, bathing in cold water ! 
&c. It is far better to let them alone. For a few hours 
after hatching, the chicks require no food at all ; and 
then, instead of cramming them — a process in which 
you are extremely likely to break the tender beak of the 
little chick — chop up a few hard eggs with boiled net- 



68 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

ties, parsley, and a little bread or curd ; make this into 
a paste, and present it to the birds in the palm of your 
hand, or place it before them on a stone, taking care 
that the hen does not rob them. In supplying them 
with water, be careful to put it in such very shallow 
vessels that they cannot wet themselves ; for the least 
moisture appears fatal to them. As the turkey chick 
does not seek its food immediately on leaving the egg, 
as the hen seems incapable of instructing her little off- 
spring how to do so, it is a practice with some to put a 
few common hen's eggs among the turkey's, (which 
must be done about nine or ten days after sitting,) that 
these, coming out with the little turkeys, may, by force 
of example, teach them to provide for themselves. 

Unless in very warm weather, the hen and chicks 
should be housed for a month. If they appear droop- 
ing, put powdered caraway seed, and a little Cayenne 
pepper, into the food. If you mix the food with milk, 
let it be previously boiled. Unboiled milk will purge 
the chicks ; but, for my own part, I prefer pure water. 

At the age of about two months occurs the most crit- 
ical period in the life of a turkey, called " shooting the 
red ;" or the time when the head and neck acquire the 
reddish color of the adult. This crisis once past, the 
birds may be regarded as past danger, and exchange 
the name of chicks for that of turkey poults. The only 
treatment necessary, when the bird is shooting the red, is 
nutritive food, and the addition of a small pinch of Cay- 
enne pepper. Bruised hemp-seed is also found service- 
able. 

No birds are more calculated to be profitable to the 
breeder than turkeys. They will almost wholly provide 
themselves with food ; and it it is only the young chicks 
that require nourishment at our hands ; and how inex- 
pensive, also, is this nourishment ! With care, you may 
rear two clutches, or broods, in a year, and have from 
eight to fifteen survivors in each. Take the average at 
ten, and, supposing you have three hens, you may bring 
up thirty chicks. These, adds Richardson, will cer- 
tainly not cost you quite a halfpenny per week each, for 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 69 

the first two months ; but allow one shilling (which is 
over the mark) per week for the lot, — that, in the two 
months, will amount to eight shillings ; and at this age 
you may, if you desire to part with them, obtain at 
least from one shilling to one shilling and sixpence each 
for them. Call it the former, and you have thirty shil- 
lings in two months, in return for a gradual outlay of 
eight shillings. This will take place twice in the year. 
Your hens will cost you nothing for keep ; and you must 
admit that your profit is handsome. This is, however, 
far below the mark. There is nothing to prevent an 
individual having more hens, rearing larger broods, and 
disposing of them at nearly double this price. 

The well-known William Cobbett, who was a shrewd 
and accurate observer, thus writes : — "To raise turkeys 
in this chilly climate is a matter of much greater diffi- 
culty than in the climates that give great warmth ; and 
so true is this, that, in America, where there is always a 
* wet spell' in April, the farmers' wives take care never 
to have a brood come until that spell is passed. In Eng- 
land, where the wet spells come hap-hazard, the first 
thing is to take care that young turkeys never go out, 
on any account, (except in dry weather,) until the dew be 
quite off the ground; and this should be adhered to till 
they get to be the size of an old partridge, and have 
their backs well covered with feathers ; and, in wet 
weather, they should be kept under cover all day long. 
As to the feeding of them when young, many nice 
things are recommended — hard eggs, chopped fine, 
with crumbs of bread, and a great many other things ; 
but that which I have seen used, and always with suc- 
cess, and for all sorts of young poultry, is milk turned 
into curds. This is the food for young poultry of all 
sorts. Some should be made fresh every day ; and if 
this be done, and the turkeys be kept warm, not one out 
of a score will die. When they get to be strong, they 
may have meal and grain ; but still, they always love 
the curds. When they get their head-feathers, they are 
hardy enough ; and what they then want is room to 
prowl about. It is best to breed them under a common 



70 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

hen, because she does not ramble like a hen turkey ; and 
it is a very curious thing that the turkeys bred up by a 
hen of the common fowl do not themselves ramble 
much when they get old ; and for this reason, when they 
buy turkeys for stock in America, (where there are such 
large woods, and where the distant rambling of turkeys 
is inconvenient,) they always buy such as have been bred 
under the hens of the common fowl — than which, a 
more complete proof of the great powers of habit is, 
perhaps, not to be found. And ought not this be a les- 
son to fathers and mothers of families ? Ought not 
they to consider that the habits which they give their 
children are to stick by those children during their whole 
lives ? 

" The hen should be fed exceedingly well, too, while 
she is sitting, and after she has hatched ; for though she 
does not give milk, she gives heat ; and let it be observed 
that, as no man ever yet saw healthy pigs with a poor 
sow, so no man ever saw healthy chickens with a poor 
hen. This is a matter much too little thought of in 
the rearing of poultry ; but it is a matter of the greatest 
consequence. Never let a poor hen sit; feed the hen 
while she is sitting, and feed her most abundantly when 
she has young ones, for then her labor is very great. 
She is making exertions of some sort or other during the 
whole twenty-four hours ; she has no rest ; is constantly 
doing something in order to provide food or safety for 
her young ones. As to fatting turkeys, the best way is 
never to let them be poor. Cramming is a nasty thing, 
and quite unnecessary. Barley-meal mixed with skim- 
milk, given to them fresh and fresh, will make them fat 
in a short time, either in a coop, in a house, or running 
about. Boiled carrots and Swedish turnips will help, 
and it is a change of sweet food. In France they some- 
times pick turkeys alive, to make them tender ; of which 
I shall only say, that the man that can do this, or order 
it to be done, ought to be skinned alive himself." 

As observed already, once the turkey chicks shoot the 
red, (which takes place at or about eight weeks old,) they 
may be considered out of danger; hence, many persons con- 



THE TOULTRY BREEDER. 



71 



ceive it more profitable to buy lean, young poults, after 
they have got the red, and then fatten them for market, 
to breeding them. If the mortality among the chicks 
were greater, and were not so easily to be avoided by a 
very little care, this might be the preferable mode of 
going about the matter ; but as it is, there can be no 
doubt of the greater advantage to be derived from rear- 
ing our own chicks. 




THE WILD TURKEY. 



In feeding the poults, after the second month, it will 
suffice to give them such boiled common plants and 
herbs as are of a nutritive character — nettles, wild suc- 
cory, milfoil, turnip-tops, cabbage-sprouts, or the outside 



72 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

leaves of greens well boiled down. With these, potato 
skins, and an odd potato or two itself, may be given. 
The meal of buckwheat, barley, beans, oats, — according 
to whichever is most plenty with yon, — will, when incor- 
porated as I have described with potatoes, fatten the 
poults with great rapidity. You may also use the meal 
of Indian corn with advantage; but recollect that it 
requires treble the boiling of oatmeal, and is more salu- 
tary when mixed with an equal bulk of the latter. If 
you desire to meet the market hastily, and with profit, 
you will be compelled to resort to more expensive feed- 
ing than otherwise, but you will be repaid by the result. 
When the poults are about five months old, or earlier, if 
it be late in the season and cold weather seems at hand, 
give them boiled potatoes mashed with meal, and then 
chopped small, as I have described. Let this be given 
fresh and fresh, and the vessel in which they are fed 
well washed daily, as otherwise it will speedily contract 
a sour smell, and become repulsive to the birds, for tur- 
keys are both cleanly and nice in their appetite. After 
having persevered in this feeding, morning and evening, 
for about a month, during which time the exercise of 
the poults should be greatly curtailed, and they should 
likewise be kept much of their time (especially after 
meals) in the dark, they will be found fit for use, and, 
if of a good kind, at least upwards of eighteen pounds* 
weight. 

As damp or cold is fatal to turkey poults, so is intense 
sunshine ; and hence they should not be led to pasture 
under a scorching sun, unless, indeed, care be taken that 
the walk is shaded. Should rain come, let them be at 
once housed. Poults should also not be suffered to stray 
too far, for, independently of the risk they incur, in case 
of a sudden shower, it must be remembered that they 
are as yet incapable of encountering any great fatigue, 
and that their condition will be anything but benefited 
thereby. Every district seems to have its own peculiar 
mode of fattening turkeys. Mr. Dickson recommends a 
mode of diet that I have never seen tried, and wonder 
much if it be as efficacious as he seems to imagine — 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 73 

" No food makes their flesh whiter and more delicate 
than kitchen stuff, or the dregs of melted tallow, more 
or less of which must be boiled, according to the num- 
ber that is to be fed ; and, being diluted in a boiling 
kettle, plants (and especially nettles, chopped up) and 
pot-herbs are mixed with it. The whole being well 
boiled, barley-meal or maize is added, (the latter can 
now be had very cheap,) to form a kind of paste, which 
maybe given twice a day, at least, — in the morning 
and at one o'clock, — when it is wished to render them 
fat. But as the dregs of melted tallow are not every- 
where to be procured, the dregs or refuse of the oil of 
nuts, linseed, or sweet almonds, may be substituted, the 
greatest care being taken not to fatten them wholly with 
such oily substances, for their flesh would partake of the 
flavor, and be injured." 

From what we know of the value of oil-cake in the 
fattening of our cattle, we have no doubt of its efficacy 
with turkeys. It will always be recollected, in reckon- 
ing the advantages with the expense attendant on the 
rearing of these birds, that, until you want to fatten 
them for sale or your own consumption, you need be at 
no pains relative to their food, as they are quite able to 
provide for themselves, being in this respect superior to 
any other of our domestic fowl. In thus readily provid- 
ing for themselves, they are also greatly assisted by the 
easy character of their appetite — grass, herbs, corn, ber- 
ries, fruit, insects, and reptiles ; in short, hardly any- 
thing coming amiss to them. 

Audubon says that, in their native forests, " they can- 
not be said to confine themselves to any particular kind 
of food, although they seem to prefer the peccan nut and 
winter grape to any other ; and, where these foods 
abound, are found in the greatest numbers. They eat 
grass and herbs of various kinds — corn, berries, and 
fruits of all descriptions. I have even found beetles, 
tadpoles, and small lizards, in their crops." — Ornith. 
Biog., 1. ii. A favorite repast of this bird, in its native 
forests, is said also to be in the seed of a kind of nettle, 
and, at another season, a small, red acorn, on which lat- 



74 THE POULTRY BREEDER, 

ter food they soon become so fat that they cannot fly, 
and are easily run down by dogs. 

A writer in the Sporting Magazine, whom I have 
already quoted, while endeavoring to prove that the 
domestic turkey does not inherit the clever foraging 
powers of its wild original, effectually clears its charac- 
ter of the imputation of devouring the farmer's crops — 
" They are dull and stupid at getting the corn out of 
the ear, unless very ripe, and will walk through a field 
of peas or beans without opening a single shell, even if 
they are ripe." 

The following curious method of rearing turkeys is 
translated from a Swedish book entitled ■ Eural Econ- 
omy : ' — 

" Many of our housewives have long despaired of 
success in rearing turkeys, and complained that the profit 
rarely indemnifies them for their trouble and loss of time ; 
whereas, little more is to be done than to plunge the 
chick into cold water the very hour, if possible — but, at 
least, the very day — it is hatched, forcing it to swallow 
one whole pepper-corn, after which let it be returned to 
its mother. From that time it will become hardy, and 
fear the cold no more than the hen's chick; but it must 
be remembered that this useful species of fowl are also 
subject to one particular disorder while they are young, 
which often carries them off in a few days. When 
they begin to droop, examine carefully the feathers on 
their posterior extremity, and you will find two or three 
whose quill part is filled with blood ; upon drawing these f 
the chick recovers, and after that requires no other care 
than what is commonly bestowed on other poultry that 
range the court-yard. The truth of these assertions is 
too well known to be denied ; and, as a convincing proof 
of the success of this mode of treatment, it will be suf- 
ficient to mention that three parishes in Sweden have 
for many years used this method, and gained several hun- 
dred pounds by rearing and selling turkeys reared in 
this manner. 

" The Norfolk turkeys are of this breed, and do not 
arrive at their full perfection till their seventh year ; but 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 75 

are sent to market at two and at four years old, when 
they fetch from two to three and four guineas a pair, for 
the table. They are fed, for the last two years, chiefly 
on sunflower seed, which makes them attain an enor- 
mous size." 

Enough is said as to the delicacy of the young turkey 
chick to prevent any person from following the advice 
of this Swede, as far as the cold bath is concerned. The 
medical treatment for the roup seems just enough ; and. 
were the sunflower to be extensively cultivated, there is, 
perhaps, no crop which would be found to pay better. 
Swine and cattle will greedily devour the leaves ; the 
stalks, when dried and stacked, will serve for winter fuel. 

The weight of turkeys has been much exaggerated by 
careless, ignorant, or perhaps credulous writers; and 60 
lbs. is, by some, mentioned as a common weight. On 
the contrary, 20 lbs. is a fair weight for any fat yearling 
bird, (and a very great weight for a bird of six months 
old;) 30 lbs. is a fine turkey of any age ; and few, save 
the Norfolk, ever exceed 40 lbs. The greatest weight 
that these have been known to attain, recorded by such 
authority as we can rely upon, is 56 lbs. I have never 
seen a turkey of 60 lbs. weight; nor do I know any one 
that has. The hen takes fat more readily than the cock, 
and is, in proportion to her size, a tenderer and a better 
dish. The Norfolk turkey, property of Mr. J. J. Nolan, 
which obtained the prize at the show of the Royal Dub- 
lin Society of 1846, did not weigh quite 35 lbs. 



THE GUINEA HEN, OR PINTADO. 

The original country of the Guinea fowl is, as its 
name implies, Africa ; but it is likewise common in 
America, where it is supposed to be indigenous, as well 
as the turkey. 

Although long familiarized, the Guinea fowl has never 
been fully domesticated, still retaining much of the rest- 
lessness and shyness of its primitive feral habits. It is 



76 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

very courageous, and will not only frequently attack the 
turkey, but even prove victorious in the encounter. 

The cock and hen are so nearly alike, that it is not 
easy to distinguish them ; there is sometimes a difference 
of hue in certain parts; but this difference only occurs 
occasionally, and, indeed, it is on gait, voice, and de- 
meanor, that we must chiefly depend. 

As a source of profit we cannot recommend these fowl : 
the eggs are very small, three of them being scarcely 
equal to an ordinary hen's egg, and the flesh not being 
likely to please every palate ; still, however, as the Guinea 
fowl require but little trouble or attention, and their eggs, 
though of small size, are well-flavored and numerous, 
they are generally kept wherever there is accommodation 
for them. The chief objection to them is their cry, or 
scream; and even this, again, has its advantages, inva- 
riably predicting a change of weather. They can hardly, 
however, be kept with other poultry, on account of their 
pugnacity. 

The Guinea fowl dislikes confinement, and will not 
thrive unless it has free liberty ; where such, therefore, 
cannot be afforded, it is useless to attempt keeping it. 

These fowl are prolific ; the hen commences to lay in 
May, and lays throughout the entire summer ; for the 
table, they are in season from February to June. The 
period of incubation is twenty-eight days ; but it is more 
advisable to keep the Guinea hen entirely for laying, 
and if you desire to hatch any of the eggs, to do so 
under the hen of the common gallinaceous fowl. You 
must keep the male bird away, or he will, like the pheas- 
ant, destroy the eggs. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE GOOSE. 

There are several kind or varieties of the mild goose, 
but we have no space for particulars relating to them. 
The domestic or common goose is bred very generously 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 77 

in this country, and many persons, who have the space 
and proper location for the indulgence of the habits and 
propensities of this fowl, contrive to make a profit from 
rearing them. 

" In the species of the goose" says Boswell, "properly 
so called, nature knows but one race. The industry of 
man has created another, larger, whose shape, color, as 
well as nature, have undergone those modifications which 
are to be observed in all animals that have for a long 
time been domesticated." 

Dickson says there is only one sort of the common 
goose, though there are several varieties of the tame 
goose. The wild goose is of a brownish-ash color, the 
individual feathers being lighter on the edge ; the belly 
is snow-white. The tame varieties are of various colors. 

11 Of all the stock brought up on farms, the goose lives 
to the greatest age ; there are records of some attaining 
to a century. In 1S24 there was a goose living in the 
possession of a Mr. Hewison (England) which was then 
upwards of one hundred years old ; it had been, through- 
out all time, in the constant possession of Mr. H.'s fore- 
fathers and himself; and on quitting his farm, he would 
not suffer it to be sold with the rest of the stock, but 
made a present of it to the incoming tenant, that the 
venerable fowl might terminate its career on the spot 
where its useful, and long life had been thus far spent." 

" The whole anserine or goose tribe," says Mowbray, 
" of which there is a great variety, are held to afford a 
food highly stimulant, of a viscous quality, and of a pu- 
trescent tendency. The flesh of the tame goose is more 
tender than that of the wild, but generally it is a diet 
best adapted to good stomachs and powerful digestion, 
and should be sparingly used by the sedentary and weak, 
or by persons subject to cutaneous diseases." 

Dickson observes that " when well fed, geese will lay 
thrice a year, from five to tw r elve eggs each time, and 
some more, that is, when they are left to their own way ; 
but if the eggs be carefully removed as soon as laid, a 
goose may be made, by abundant feeding, to lay from 



78 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

twenty to fifty eggs without intermitting. They begin 
to lay early in spring, usually in March." 

Mowbray observes, " The earliness and warmth of 
spring are the general cause of the early laying of geese ; 
which, of consequence, since there may be time for two 
broods within the season, — not, however, a common occur- 
rence, — and which happening successively for two or three 
seasons, has occasioned some persons, formerly, to set a 
high price on their stock, as if of a peculiar and more 
valuable breed than the common. The method, however, 
to attain this advantage, is to feed breeding geese high 
throughout the winter, with solid corn, and on the com- 
mencement of the breeding season, to allow them boiled 
barley, malt, fresh grains, and fine pollard, mixed up 
with ale or other stimulants. Instances are said to have 
occurred of a goose laying upwards of one hundred eggs 
within the year." 

REARING AND BREEDING GEESE. 

It is stated in the Farmer's Gazette that geese can be 
raised, in a proper situation, at a profit greater than 
almost any other fowls. 

" But let us make an estimate of the profit of ten old 
geese, in the manner they are generally kept by most 
farmers. We will suppose that the goose-keepers (for 
there are those who are not farmers) commence opera- 
tions by purchasing ten geese in the spring, before they 
begin to lay, at one dollar each, which is a quarter more 
than they can be frequently obtained for. Eight of the 
ten geese (for two should be ganders) will have, on an 
average, ten goslings each ; but allowing one half for 
paper calculation, and probably less through the season, 
it will leave us with a flock of fifty, old and young, worth, 
when dressed for the market, not a dollar, — the original 
cost, — but half this sum, and you have twenty-five 
dollars. In addition to this, every old goose will yield 
one pound of feathers, and every young one three-fourths 
of a pound, making in all forty pounds, which, added to 
the twenty-five, gives us forty dollars. We say net 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 79 

profit, for there is not one goose-keeper in ten that feeds 
his geese, either old or young, after the grass has started 
in the spring, until fattening time in the fall ; and then 
the large quills will more than pay for their extra food.' , 

A writer in the Maine Farmer says, " I once knew a 
couple of industrious sisters, who lived near a never- 
failing brook or stream, in Massachusetts, who kept 
generally, through the winter, thirty geese, male and 
female. They had erected some suitable, but not costly 
sheds, in which they had apartments for them to lay, 
sit, and hatch. Their food in the winter was meal of 
various kinds, to some extent, but principally apples and 
roots. In the summer they had a pasture enclosed with 
a stone wall or board fence, which embraced the water. 
They kept their wings so clipped that they could not fly 
over such a fence. Their owners well knew (what we 
all know) that live geese feathers are a cash article, at a 
fair price. They picked off their feathers three times in 
the season. Those thirty geese, wintered, would raise 
seventy-five goslings or young geese, and of course they 
had that number to dispose of every fall, or in the begin- 
ning of winter, when they are sent to market, and again 
picked, making four times they obtained feathers from 
those they wintered, and twice from the young ones that 
they had killed. 

11 1 tell the story, to induce some, family, sisters or 
brothers, fathers or mothers, situate near some never- 
failing brook of water, to go and do likewise. Those 
remote from water cannot be benefited by the history, 
yet their friends may; but if I can, by this account, 
cause one family to partake of the benefits of the business, 
I shall be satisfied. Many families there are, in all our 
towns, so situated that they may make the raising of 
geese a profitable business, yet, perhaps, have never 
thought of their privileges. It is known that we must 
import most of our feathers ; and is it necessary to send 
abroad for an article so easily produced among us ? 
Those who calculate to commence the business must 
prepare for it the ensuing fall, and not kill their geese, 
No one will object to the keeping of even more than 



80 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

thirty geese, if an enclosure is made sufficient to keep 
them at home, and out of mischief." 

These fowls, as has been ascertained by M. St. Genis, 
will pair, like pigeons ; and even if the number of gan- 
ders exceed that of the geese, no noise or riot takes 
place, and mutual choice is evidently the ruling princi- 
ple. Amongst other experiments, M. St. Genis left, 
besides the patriarch of the flock, two of the young gan- 
ders, unprovided with mates ; but still those couples that 
had paired kept constantly together, and the three single 
ganders never attempted to approach any of the females 
during the temporary absence of their lords. 

Some writers recommend a gander to be* mated with 
from four to six geese. If he desire eggs, and eggs 
alone, one gander is plenty for six or even eight geese. 
He may, indeed, abandon the unnecessary trouble of 
keeping a gander at all, but just only occasionally send 
his geese to his next door neighbor's ! 

The goose deposits from ten to twenty eggs at one 
laying ; but, if you do not desire her to sit, you may, by 
removing the eggs as fast as they are laid, and, at the 
same time, feeding her highly, induce her to lay on to 
the number of even forty-five or fifty. This is, however, 
unusual, and, I may add, that it is unprofitable. When 
tolerably well cared, geese maybe made to lay, and even 
hatch, three times in the year. This care consists merely 
in high feeding and good housing, early in the spring, so 
as to have the first brood early in March ; but I would 
rather have two good clutches reared than three bad 
ones, and am, therefore, more disposed to recommend 
patience and moderation. 

We can always detect the inclination of the goose to 
set or hatch. This is known by the bird keeping in the 
nest, after the laying of each egg, longer than usual. The 
hatching nest should be formed of straw, with a little 
hay as a lining; and so formed that the goose will not 
fling the eggs over the side when in the act of turning 
them. Do not meddle with the eggs during incubation; 
and do not meddle with the goose ; but, as she is some- 
what heavier than the hen of the domestic cock, you may 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. SI 

leave her food and drink rather nearer her than is neces- 
sary with common poultry, as, if she chanced to absent 
herself from her eggs sufficiently long to permit them to 
cool, she might become disheartened, and desert her task 
altogether. 

The goose will sit on her eggs for nearly two months ; 
but the necessary period of incubation being but one, the 
early-hatched goslings must be removed, lest the more 
tardy might be deserted. The best plan is to have the 
eggs set of as nearly as possible equal freshness, that 
they may be hatched at the one time. 

Their food may then be bread, soaked in milk, por- 
ridge, curds, boiled greens, or even bran, mixed with 
boiled potatoes, taking care not to give the food in too 
hot a state, while you equally avoid giving it cold. 
Avoid rain or cold breezes ; and see, therefore, that the 
walk into which you turn the young goslings be shel- 
tered from both wind and weather. The goslings should 
also be kept from water for at least a couple of days after 
hatching. If suffered too early to have free access to 
water, they are very liable to cramp — a disease which 
generally produces permanent lameness and deformity, 
and but too frequently proves fatal. 

Grass is as necessary to the well-being of geese as 
water ; and the rankest, coarsest grasses — such as are 
rejected by cattle — constitute the goose's delicacy. Such 
grasses as they prefer will be found on damp, swampy 
lands, of which, perhaps, no more profitable use could be 
made. 



FATTENING GEESE. 

11 It is the same with the goose," says Main, " as with 
every other bird that is fattened up ; that moment must 
be laid hold of, when, come to a complete plumpness, they 
would soon get lean and die, if they were not killed." 

" The French method of fattening," says M. Parmen- 
tier, " consists in plucking the feathers from under the 
belly ; in giving them abundance of food and drink, and 
in cooping them up more closely than is practised with 



82 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 



common fowls; cleanliness and quiet being above all 
indispensable. The best time is in the month of Novem- 
ber, or when the cold weather begins to set in. When 
there are but a few geese to fatten, they are put in a 
cask, in which holes have been bored, and through which 
they thrust their head to get their food ; but as this bird 
is voracious, and as with it hunger is stronger than love 
of liberty, it is easily fattened, provided they are abun- 
dantly supplied with wherewithal to swallow.' , 

" Various measures," says Richardson, " have been 
adopted for fattening geese. Goslings produced in June 
or July will fatten without other food than what they 
will have afforded them on the stubble-fields, as soon as 
they are ready to consume it; but if you are in haste, 
give potatoes, turnips, or other roots, bruised with meal, 
at least once daily. The goose is very voracious, and 
only requires to get plenty to eat in order to accumulate 
fat. Geese, fed chiefly on grass and corn, as I have 
described, do not, perhaps, attain the same bulk with 
such as are crammed ; but their fat is less rank, and they 
are altogether much more desirable for the table." 



CHAPTER VI. 

DUCKS. 



Almost any family in the country may have their 
flock of ducks near the house, if they have the taste for 
this bird. They are easily bred, and readily managed, 
with a little proper care at the proper time of the year. 
They are a hardy fowl, give you a good egg — and reg- 
ularly, too, if watched a little — and will "keep them- 
selves " upon the offal and refuse of your table, 

THE MALLARD, OR WILD DUCK. 

The full plumage of the male resembles that of many 
of our most esteemed domestic drakes. The female has 
a greenish-black beak, with a black nail ; general color 
brown, the feathers being edged with black. The male 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 83 

is about two feet long ; the female somewhat less. At 
the close of the breeding season, the male loses his gay- 
plumage, and assumes very nearly the garb of the female, 
only somewhat darker. 




THE DOMESTIC DRAKE. 

The duck should always find a place in the poultry- 
yard, provided only that it can have access to water; 
without water it is useless to endeavor to keep these fowl, 
but even a very small supply .will suffice. It must be 
remembered that the flesh of these birds will be found to 
partake, to a great extent, of the flavor of the food on 
which they have been fattened ; and, as they are natu- 
rally very foul feeders, care should be taken, for at least 
a week or so before killing, to confine them to select food. 
Boiled potatoes are very good feeding, and are still bet- 
ter, if a little grain be mixed through them ; Indian meal 
will be found both economical and nutritive, but should 
be used sparingly at first. 



THE COMMON DUCK. 



The duck is very prolific. An account in an English 

newspaper states that a duck, belonging to a Mr. Mor- 

rell, of Belper Dally, laid an egg daily for eighty-five 

successive days. This was in 1823-4. The egg of the 

8 



84 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

duck is by some people very much relished, having a rich 
piquancy of flavor, which gives it a decided superiority 




THE COMMON DUCK. 

over the egg of the common fowl. The duck does not 
lay during the day, but generally in the night ; excep- 
tions, regulated by circumstances, will, of course, occa- 
sionally occur. While laying, the duck requires more 
attention than the hen, until they are accustomed to 
resort to a regular nest for depositing their eggs. 

The duck is a bad hatcher ; she is too fond of the 
water, and is, consequently, too apt to suffer her eggs to 
get cold ; she will, also, no matter what sort of weather 
it be, bring the ducklings to the water the moment they 
break the shell — a practice always injurious, and fre- 
quently fatal ; hence the very common practice of setting 
ducks under hens. The eggs of the duck are thirty-one 
days in hatching. During incubation, they require no 
turning, or other attention ; and, when hatched, only 
require to be kept from water for a day or two. Their 
first food may be boiled eggs, and a little barley ; in a few 
days they demand no care, being perfectly able to shift 
for themselves. The old duck is not so brave in the 
defence of her brood as the hen. 

The Aylesbury duck, a large, handsome, white duck, 
is a very great favorite, and, until the introduction of the 
variety called Rhone, or Roan, but more properly Rouen, 
(as it takes its name from that town on the Seine,) was 
esteemed the most valuable of all ; the latter bird, how- 
ever, now fairly divides the honor with it, and is by some 
regarded as superior. The flesh of the Aylesbury duck 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 85 

is of a most delicate flavor, being by many compared to 
that of the chicken. 

The Muscovy or "Musk" duck does not, as some 
suppose, derive its name from having been brought from 
that country, but from the flavor of its flesh, and should 
more properly be termed the Musk duck, of which its 
other name is only a corruption ; it is easily distinguished 
by a red membrane surrounding the eyes, and covering 
the cheeks. These ducks, not being in esteem, on ac- 
count of their peculiar odor, and the unpleasant flavor 
of their flesh, are not worth breeding, unless to cross with 
the common variety, in which case, let it be remarked, 
that the Musk drake must be put to the common duck ; 
this will produce a very large cross, but vice versa will 
produce a very inferior one. 

The Musk duck is a distinct species from the common 
duck; and the hybrid race will, therefore, not breed 
again between themselves, although they are capable of 
doing so with either of the species from the commixture 
of which they sprung. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE, WEIGHT OF POULTRY. 

The comparative weight of domestic fowls has got to 
be a matter of considerable interest, and the larger breeds 
of cocks and hens are now sought for much more anx- 
iously than formerly. It is got to be appreciated, if 
model and size can be united, and the desirable laying 
qualities can be retained also, that such birds are to be 
the stock for breeders — especially those who will here- 
after breed for the market; and such will be the most 
generally sought after, we imagine, in our vicinity. 

We find, in a late number of the Boston Cidtivator, an 
article on this subject, from a breeder in Pennsylvania, 
which we partially transfer to our pages. The writer 
evidently understands himself, but there is one query 



bb THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

which might pertinently be put to this gentleman, we 
opine ; and which (in his anxiety to compare the home- 
bred with the foreign fowl) he loses sight of, to wit : — 
Where did his large and weighty fowls originate? He 
argues that the " Cochin China'' fowl is not so heavy as 
his Pe?msylca?iia (?) birds ; then he quotes the weights 
of the Chittagongs ! Surely, this latter is a species of the 
great China breed of fowls. But we give his article, as 
we find it, as follows, on the 

" IMPROVED BREEDS OF POULTRY. 

" Mr. Editor : — I have been interested very much, for 
some time past, in the light thrown upon that much neg- 
lected or badly managed branch of rural economy, the 
breeding and raising of poultry. ^ * ^ I am sur- 
prised that I, as well as some others, should have thought 
it expedient or necessary to send across the Atlantic for 
large fowls, when we have at home those which in every 
respect are quite as good, and in many respects even 
much better. I have no hesitation in saying, that, in the 
large breeds and varieties, we are much in advance of 
the English breeders. # # ^ And as some of your 
readers may, in the present stage of the ' chicken fever? 
be inclined to send to England for some of their large 
fowls, — perhaps the Cochin China, as they seem to be the 
chief attraction, — I will record some of the results of my 
experience and correspondence, for their especial benefit. 

81 In the first place, the fowl denominated Cochin China, 
said to have been presented to the Queen, a few years 
since, has been described and drawn so variously and 
conflictingly, that it is difficult to say what it really is — 
especially as no one, save, perhaps, the Queen herself, 
or the person who presented the fowl, seems to know 
whence or how it came into England. ^ ^ * 

" Now, I doubt whether this fowl is anything more 
or less than the wild Shanghae, found in the mountains 
of Northern China, of which I have a few beautiful spec- 
imens, imported in 1847. They agree so much in 
description, and also, as I shall show, in weight, with my 
pure wild Shanghaes, which weigh, when full grown, 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 87 

from 15 to 16 lbs. per pair, that I have little or no hesi- 
tation in saying they were born and bred in North- 
ern China, and not in Cochin China. My Chittagongs 
and Cochin Chinas, which come, the one from the vicinity 
of Calcutta, and the other from Southern China, are, 
as I shall show, considerably larger. From gentlemen 
with whom I have corresponded, I recently learned the 
weights of several specimens of fowls in England, which 
I shall now put in juxtaposition with some of my own. 

POULTRY RECENTLY WEIGHED IN ENGLAND. 7 7 

IDS. OZ. 

Dorking Cock, 2 years old, 7 4 

Dorking Cock, age not named, 6 12 

Malay Cock, young, 8 

Cochin China" Cock, 2 years old, 7 9 

Cochin China Stag, 2 years old, 5 8 

Cochin China Hen, moulting, 5 5 

Cochin China Stag, moulting, 5 2 

Malay Hen, moulting, 5 6 

Malay Pullet, moulting, „ 4 5 

Dorking Hen, full grown, 6 2 

Dorking Pullet, full grown, 4 6 

" I refer your readers to Mr. Dixon's treatise for a 
more extended list of weights, who will still further con- 
firm the assertion, that, in point of weight, our fowls are 
superior. 

POULTRY WEIGHED THIS DAY IN MY OWN YARD. „ 

IDS. OZ. 

Cochin China Cock, 1 13 months old, 11 4 

Cochin China Stag, 8 months old, 9 12 

Cochin China Pullet, 7 months old, 6 10 

Cochin China Pullet, 8 months old, 7 2 

Chittagong Stag, 8j months old, . 10 6 

Chittagong Pullet, 7 months old, 8 7 

Chittagong Pullet, 8 months old, 9 2 

Chittagong Pullet, 6 months old, 6 12 

Chittagong Hen, 2 years old, 10 6 

" I have a Chittagong hen, three years and three months 
old, which, last spring, weighed 13| lbs. ; she being, 
however, a rara avis, should not be regarded as a fair 
sample. 

" The English fowls were weighed about seven weeks 
since, when scarcely over the effects of moulting ; this 



b» THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

might make a difference of a pound or a pound and a 
half in their favor over fowls weighed now ; but even 
then, the balance is still heavily in our favor. And so I 
think every breeder or fancier who breeds judiciously, 
pure fowls, will find, at least in the question of iveight, a 
balance in his favor over the best and reliable results of 
the English breeder. To what this superiority is owing 
— whether to our drier climate, or a better selection of 
stock — I pretend not to say; but, knowing the facts, I 
have thought proper to record them, with the view of 
encouraging at once our breeders in a proper use of their 
own material, and preventing the young and ardent fan- 
cier expending money in sending for large transatlantic 
fowls, only to be disappointed, or find that he could 
have procured as good, if not better, nearer home, at 
much less delay and expense. 

" Kensington, Phila. Asa Rugg." 

We had supposed that the Ckittagong fowl was one 
of the Eastern or China variety — and, indeed, we think 
so still. We consider this superior fowl at the head of 
its species ; but it is a foreign fowl, surely, as well as the 
" Cochin China," or the " Shanghae." 

In the American Union (Boston) of February 16th, 
1850, we find the following article on the weight of poul- 
tiy, from the pen of Mr. Burnham, its editor, who says : 

" In the appendix attached to a late edition of 
i Browne's American Poultry- Yard,' a work published in 
New York, and containing some good information upon 
the subject of breeding and rearing fowls, we find several 
tables furnished by known breeders in this country, pui> 
porting to give the weight of their domestic birds. The 
statements therein made caused us much doubt as to 
their correctness — at least, comparatively — and we 
weighed our own stock, last week, out of curiosity, to 
ascertain if we could possibly be so much mistaken as 
these tables led us to infer. We select from the number 
a specimen contributed by Mr. Dixon, a well-known 
poulterer, who sets down the weight of some of his fowls 
as follows : 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 89 

lbs. oz. 

Cochin China Cock, 16 months old, 5 

Cochin China Hen, 16 months old, 4 6 

Malay Cock, 16 months old, 6 14 

Malay Hen, 16 months old, 4 8 

Cochin China Cockerel, 6 months old, . . 4 14 

Another Cochin China Cockerel, 6 months old, 4 13 

" Mr. Alfred Whittaker furnishes the following : 

lbs. oz. 

Pheasant Malay Cocks — average 2 years old, 7 

Pheasant Malay Hens — average 2 years old, 5 1 

Pheasant Malay Pullet, 17 months old, 5 3 

Spanish Hen, • . . 5 

Surrey Hen, 2 years old, 5 12 

Malay and Dorking Hen, (crossed,) 4 years old, .... 5 8 

" A third list gives the following weights : ,, . 

Black Polish Cock, 3 years old, 5 3 

Black Polish Hen, 3 years old, 3 4 

Black Polish Pullet, 2 6 

Golden Polish Cock, 5 

Golden Polish Hen, 3 8 

Malay Hen, 4 12 

11 After giving the above accounts, the article on the 
weight of poultry concludes as follows : — ' It will ap- 
pear from the foregoing, that for a cock of any breed to 
reach 7 J pounds, even live weight, he must be an unusu- 
ally fine bird ; (!) but this must be nearly doubled before 
we can rival those Cochin China specimens, in whose 
existence some persons appear to believe.' 

" Now, with all due deference to the opinion of Mr. 
Samuel Allen, (who signs this singular statement,) to 
Mr. Dixon, and Mr. Whittaker, we respectfully offer the 
following table of the actual live weight of a few of our 
own fowls, which were placed in the scales on Saturday, 
Feb. 9th, 1850. We will premise that our birds were 
by no means in the best condition ; having been confined 
for several days, on account of the bad weather, and three 
or four of them having been sick for a month. We have 
selected from, the tables alluded to the heaviest birds out 
of the whole. We give the weights of ours, just as they 
stand, large and small, as follows : 



90 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

lbs. OZ. 

Grey Chittagong Cockerel, 8 months old, 10 3 

Grey Chittagong Pullet. 8 months old, 8 3 

Imported Cochin China Cockerel, 6£ months old, .... 8 2 

Imported Cochin China Cockerel, 5J months old, .... 7 9 

One Baylies " Shanghae" Hen, 2 years old, 9 8 

One imported Cochin China Pullet, 6 months old, ... 7 

Three imported Cochin China Pullets — average, 5 mos., 6 7 

Imported Shanghae Cock, 1 year old, 9 4 

Do. do. Cockerel, 8 months old, 8 2 

Do. do. do. 7 months old, 7 14 

Do. do. do. 4J months old, 6 5 

Do. do. Pullets, each 1 year old, 7 14 

Do. do. Pullets, each 7 and 8 months old, . . 6 7 

" Plymouth Rock" Cockerel, 10 months old, ..... .8 2 

Do. do. do. 9 months old, 8 

Two Plymouth Rock Pullets, 10 months old, each, ... 6 8 

Two Cochin China Pullets, 9 months old, each, 5 6 

Two Chittagong or Great Malay Pullets, 5* months each, 5 9 

" In the tables quoted from Mr. Browne's work, the 
heaviest rooster of any breed is set down at 7 lbs.; the 
heaviest hen of any breed quoted, 5 lbs. 12 oz. The 
lightest pullet we have in our yard draws over 5 \ lbs.; the 
heaviest rooster, 10 lbs. 3 oz.; the heaviest pullet, over 
8 lbs. According to Mr. Allen, then, we may safely set 
it down that we have several 4 unusually large and fine 
birds,' and none others, for, with the exception of chickens, 
we have not a single rooster that will not outweigh his 
maximum, ' 7| lbs. for an unusually fine bird!' We 
rather reckon we could show the above-named breeders 
something in Massachusetts which they hav' n't seen, if 
these ' tables' be correct." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PROFITS OF POULTRY KEEPING. 

The committee, in their report upon the doings of 
the late Fowl Exhibition in Boston, remark truthfully, 
that they deem it " a very important part of their duty 
to warn amateurs and others of the impropriety of select- 
ing their stocks from any other than the most approved 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 91 

breeds of fowls. Generally, the system of breeding 
poultry is conducted in the most loose and unscientific 
manner, and no real dependence can be placed on other 
than the purest stock. By selecting it, the articles, early 
maturity, large size, and liberal produce, are surely to 
be depended upon ; whereas, by indiscriminately adopt- 
ing impure stock, there is no security that these will 
result. 

" Under the loose system of breeding referred to, it is 
equally impossible to keep up, as it is to establish, a dis- 
tinctive breed of poultry. To conserve the purity of any 
variety, so that ' like will produce like,' in appearance 
and properties, is of the highest importance — is, in fact, 
(next to the securing of these in a distinctive shape,) the 
grand aim of the scientific breeder." 

After selecting the best stock, the breeder has but to 
take proper care of his fowls, afford them plenty of good 
food, in season, provide them with shelter from the wet 
and cold, and he will find that such stock will repay him 
in large eggs and plenty of them, as well as in good 
chickens. We append below the results ascertained 
with certain quantities of fowls, as evidence of the aver- 
age of profit which may ordinarily be made upon keep- 
ing poultry. 

Mr. Daniel Putnam, of North Danvers, Mass., records 
the following in, the Boston Cultivator. 

" For the last eighteen months, my fowls have been 
under the care of a daughter, who, for her own gratifi- 
cation, has kept a minute account of the expense of their 
food, and also of their products. They are kept in a 
cellar, under a small bam, 38 feet long, 18 wide. It is 
light, airy, pleasant, having several glass windows on the 
southern side, with an entrance on a level with the room. 
Connected with this is a small enclosure above ground, 
14 feet by 12, which has a boarded roof, is lathed on the 
sides, to which they have access. In the cellar, are 
boxes fitted for laying, with a door in front, and an aper- 
ture on the back for the entrance of the hens. As 
regards their food, corn is kept constantly before them, 
in the self-feeding hopper. Shorts are given, mixed 
with pot-liquor ; other than this, they have no animal 



92 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

food. Small potatoes, boiled and chopped, are freely 
used. Through the warm season, they have a constant 
fresh supply of grass, clover, sorrel, chickweed, &c, occa- 
sionally the tops of such vegetables as they will eat. In 
the winter, oats are used with the corn. There is also 
kept by them bone-meal, pounded charcoal and oyster- 
shells, together with a large box of sifted ashes, in 
which they can readily roll themselves. Under the 
place of roosting is kept soil and meadow mud, which is 
exchanged twice a year. Fresh water is carried to 
them each day. In cold weather they are fed once, in 
summer three times, per day. No disease or death has 
occurred among them, and they have been comparatively 
free from vermin. 

" The statement which follows comprises a year, com- 
mencing Sept. 25, 1848, ending Sept. 25, 1849. 

" The number of fowls on hand Sept. 1849 was 16 
hens, 2 crowers, and 26 chickens two months old, and 
an average for the year, 14 hens and 1J crower. 

" The number of eggs laid during the year was 1668, 
or 139 dozen. Of this number, 82 J dozen were sold 
for $14.66, averaging 18cts. per dozen. The remainder, 
valued at the same rate, amounted to $10.22, making 
the total value of eggs, $24.88. 

— ~^^ EXPENSE OF KEEPING. 

12 bushels of corn, at 75 cents per bushel, $10.00 

8 " of shorts, at 22 cents per bushel, 1.7G 

2\ " of oats, at 50 cents per bushel, 1.25 

7 " of potatoes, at 30 cents per bushel, 2.10 

22 \ lbs. of soap- grease, at 4 cents per pound, 89 

Oyster-shells and bone-meal, 95 

Total, $15.95 

Value less of stock than September, 1848 3.00 

$18.95 

VALUE OF PRODUCTS. 

Value of eggs, $24.88 

Value of fowls sold, . • 4.43 

Value of fowls killed, 3.92 

Value of manure, 5.00 

Total, $38.23 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 93 

Products, $38.23 

Expenses. 6cc 18.95 

Net profits, $19.28 

In the report of a committee on poultry of the Wayne 
County (N. Y.) Agricultural Society, it is said that 
David dishing- keeps 25 hens, and feeds them with 
oats, corn-meal, broom-corn seed and refuse meat, sup- 
plied with ashes, pounded shells, &c, confined to a warm, 
dry room in winter. His account is : — 



Poultry 
To investment of stock and fixtures, ......... 


Dr. 

$50.00 


Interest, •• 


. 3.00 


Feed, 25 bushels of oats, at 20c, (large estimate,) . 
Attendance, • • 


. 5.00 
. 5.00 






Poultry Establishment. Cr. 

Bv 75 doz. eggs, sold early, 12 cts $9.38 

" 200 chickens, 10 cts 20.00 

Stock and fixtures on hand 50.00 


$63.50 

$79.38 



Leaving a net balance of $15.88 
on an investment of $50, or an interest of more 
than 27 per cent, on the capital employed. 

J. J. Thomas, in the Albany Cultivator, states that 
careful experiments have led to the conclusion that " \\ 
bushel of oats will be an adequate yearly supply for 
each adult' 1 hen, and allowing the fowls " an hour's run 
for exercise before retiring for the night, high health and 
productiveness will be secured." 

Mrs. Reynolds addresses the Albany Cultivator on 
this subject, and says : — ;c Having previously kept only 
the common kind of fowls, Mr. R. procured, last year, a 
pair of crested Polanders, making, with those we before 
had, 28 fowls. We killed some occasionally, till the 
chickens were large enough to be eaten, when we had 
20 old ones left. We raised over 100 chickens, — half 
and full bloods together. Our early pullets commenced 
laying in the fall : none of them wanted to set. Accord- 



94 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 



ingto our account kept, we sold, from Jan. 1, 1843, to 
Jan. 1, 1844, 1866 eggs, and received $19 for them. 
We kept no account of food consumed, but gave a lib- 
eral supply." 

George Be?nent, Esq., of Albany, says : — " Most of 
my fowls were of the fancy breeds, — the geese of the 
large Bremen and Chinese varieties. They have been 
allowed as much grain as they would eat, and a few 
boiled potatoes fed to them while warm, and occasion- 
ally animal food, such as boiled liver, &c, in winter, 
with lime, gravel, and a constant stream of water run- 
ning in the yard. Their food was changed often. It 
consisted of oats, wheat screenings, millet and corn. 
We found that twelve quarts of oats were sufficient for 
seventy fowls per day, and other grains in proportion to 
their weight. The following is his account : — 



Poultry Establishment. Dr. 
To 15 Cocks, 50c. each. $7.50 
69 Hens, 37Jc. . . . . 25.87 

3 Turkeys, 62£c. ... 1.87 

7 Geese, Si, 7.00 

1 Fancy Duck, Si, . . . 1.00 
1 Guinea Fowl 25c. . . .25 

71 bu. Screenings. 15c. . 11.25 

4 bush. Millet, 50c. . . 2.00 
14^ bush. Corn, 42ic. . . 6.07 
30.i bush. Oats, 24c. . . 7.26 

8 bush. Potatoes, 25c. . 2.00 
32 Fowls purchased, . . 15.09 

3 Turkeys purchased, . 1.13 



$88.30 



Contra. Cr. 

By 3978 Hen's eggs, 12c. $39.78 
39 Duck's eggs, 12c. . . .39 
39 Turkey's eggs, 12c. . .39 
50 Guinea Hen's eggs, 6c. .25 
47 Geese eggs, 36c. . . 1.41 
41 Fowls sold, 46.31 

5 Geese sold, 7.00 

30 Fowls killed, .... 7.06 

2 Geese killed, .... 2.00 

2 Turkeys killed, ... 1.00 

11 Fowls died, . . 

1 Turkey died, . 

6 Fowls presented, 
32 bu. manure sold to the 

Morocco Tanner, . . 6.00 
54 Hens on hand, 37£c. ea. 20.25 

18 Cocks, 50c 9.00 

6 Geese, $1, 6.00 

1 Duck, $1, 1.00 

10 Turkeys, 50c 5.00 

2 Guinea Fowls, 25c. . .50 



Expense, 
Profits, . 



$153.34 
. .88.30 

. . 65.04 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 95 

" Valuing them at the price of common poultry, — that 
is, 15 cents apiece for the fowls, and 50 cents for the 
turkeys and geese, — leaves a profit of 830.51." 

A writer in the Cultivator says, "This year, (1842,) 
I have about 40 hens, mostly pullets, and three cocks. 
They commenced laving in the latter port of January, 
and up to the last of April — about 90 days — have given 
me about 120 dozen (1440) eggs" 

Another correspondent says, " that when his fowls 
commenced laying, he had 37 hens and three cocks, and 
when they ceased laying, he had 26, the average b 
32. In about 300 days, between January and Novem- 
ber, they yielded 3,298 eggs." 

"Mr. E. Tucker, of Milton," says the editor of the 
Massachusetts Ploughman, " tells us that he obtained 
600 dozen (7,200) eggs in one year from S3 hens ; this was 
his highest number of fowls ; he sometimes had less ; 
that, for 562 dozen, (6,744,) he took S100 within one 
cent. The whole amount of his cash expenditures was 
$56.43, leaving him a balance of $43.57." 

Mr. West/all, of Rhinebeck, says, "From 45 hens, I 
have, the past year, (1S40,) raised more than 150 chick- 
ens, although I had rather poor success in hatching the 
eggs. I have sold eggs to the amount of $21. 29; have 
now over 300 on hand, and the year since the receipt of 
the first egg last spring will not be up till the last of 
this month, (February,) and we are now getting from 20 
to 25 eggs per day, from about 80 hens." 



CHAPTER IX. 

FEEDING AXD REARING POULTRY. 

: little has as yet been written upon the subject 
of breeding that is satisfactory. So much crossing, 
re-crossing, breeding back, and breeding in-and-in, has 
been done in this country, that little is really known as 
to what course should be followed to breed fowls purely, 
and. in just such a manner as the party may desire. 



96 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

Some late writers decide that a cock need run with a 
brood of hens hut four or five days, to effect all desirable 
purposes in establishing his kind ; others insist that a 
much longer period is necessary to perfect a breed. One 
author has it that a few days will suffice ; another con- 
tends that the whole litter is impregnated at the same 
time, and, if the particular crower is not placed with the 
hens before the commencement of the formation of the 
litter, and continued afterwards, the progeny will not be 
like the parent, or parents, uniformly. 

Thus, to breed a hen under one rooster for a few 
weeks, and then introduce a stranger — though the chicks 
which follow may have some of the marks of the latter, 
(especially from the later eggs,) still there will appear 
specimens marked like the original parent, in form and 
plumage, in succeeding broods, from these eggs. 

So far as our own opinion goes, we do not hesitate to 
say, that the better and surer way to breed fowls pure is, 
to place your pullets (before they begin to lay at all) with 
the crower you prefer best, (of the same breed.) and 
make no change during the period that the pullet's litter 
lasts ivith which that croicer commenced. This is a safe 
plan, at any rate. That a strange crower may produce 
his like, however, after being with hens a week or two, 
we will not positively dispute ; but the progeny from this 
progeny will pretty certainly come varied. 

Nowithstanding the lengthy dissertations which many 
authors indulge in, upon the pretended science (!) of 
feeding and raising fowls, we know of no good reason 
for half the extended and intricate 'directions" which 
are laid down in most poultry books, on this very simple 
subject. 

Fowls need plenty of good food, pure water, (a running 
brook through the yard is best,) fresh air, ranging ground, 
shelter from cold and storms, and perfect cleanliness in 
their houses, to keep them in good health. With these 
privileges, poultry may easily be kept in a thriving con- 
dition, through the year. 

Richardson says, " Do not feed your hens too highly 
before they begin to lay;" and this advice is good. 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 97 

Neither should they be fed too generously while laying, 
or immediately after ceasing to lay, unless you wish to 
fatten them for table use; for as soon as a fowl begins to 
fatten, she stops laying. You must, therefore, separate 
the two classes of fowl, layers and fatteners, at all events 
at feeding time. Make some separate provision for your 
cocks; if they are only fed in company with the hens, 
they are apt to think too much of their mistresses, and to 
neglect their own appetites ; and recollect that to have 
strong chickens, you must have a strong cock, which an 
ill-fed bird cannot be expected to prove. 

Fowl about a farm-yard can usually pick up a portion 
of their subsistence, and that probably the largest por- 
tion, and, of course, in such situations poultry-keeping 
decidedly pays best. I must, however, particularly cau- 
tion my readers against depending for the support, even 
of their non-fattening poultry, wholly upon such preca- 
rious resources; and I shall, accordingly, proceed in my 
advice as if no such resources existed. 

The substances that may be used in poultry feeding 
are very numerous an J various — cabbage, corn, turnips, 
carrots, parsnips, mangles ; meal, oats, wheat, barley, rye, 
and other grains, substances too well known to require, 
and too numerous to be worth, the trouble of enumer- 
ating. It will not answer to feed fowl wholly upon any 
one variety of foqd ; neither will it be found advisable to 
feed wholly upon any one class of food. I must speak 
of the latter first. Fowl require a mixture of green food 
with hard food, fully as much as horses or cattle do. 
When the birds have the advantage of an extensive 
range, they will find this for themselves ; when they do 
not possess such an advantage, you must provide green 
food for them. Some do so by presenting the birds with 
cabbages or other greens, chopped small. This occasions 
waste- Fasten heads of cabbage, lettuce, rape, or other 
green herbs, to some fixture, by means of their roots, 
and let the fowl pick for themselves. This practice not 
merely prevents waste, but is, in consequence of the 
amusement it affords, decidedly conducive to health. 






98 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

Wheat. — When damaged wheat can be bought at a 
low price, it may be used for the feeding of poultry with 
much profit and advantage ; when no such thing can be 
procured, however, and when it is proposed to feed them 
upon the sound, marketable article, turn a deaf ear to 
the thoughtless adviser. The same may be said of 
barley, which is also objectionable as acting in a purga- 
tive manner — -it is useful as an occasional feed, when 
fowl are over-fed. Rye is generally a cheaper descrip- 
tion of grain than any other, and damaged rye may be 
used, to a certain extent. 

I do not think that one circumstance connected with 
the feeding of poultry, and that a most important one, is 
sufficiently well known — I allude to the necessity they 
are under of obtaining animal food. Of course, when 
the birds possess the advantage of an extensive run, they 
can themselves pick up worms, snails, or slugs ; and as 
in the case of ducks, &c, frogs and other small reptiles; 
but in cases where they do not possess this advantage, it 
is necessary that you cater for them. I have always 
experienced the best effects, especially as manifested in 
greatly increased laying, of giving scraps of animal food 
about twice or thrice a week to the fowl ; I have also 
found the best mode of doing so to be, throwing down a 
bullock's liver, leaving it with them, and permitting them 
to pick ad libitum; of course, care must be taken that 
cats or dogs do not steal it ; I further think that the liver 
is better given raw than boiled. 

When a hen pines, or seems disposed to be thin, you 
need not hesitate in giving buckwheat with even a 
liberal hand ; but you must so manage as not to permit 
to share in this department of your bounty such hens as 
are disposed to become too fat. According as hens take 
on fat, they usually fall off in laying, and this should be 
particularly kept in mind in feeding. When hens are 
disposed to flesh, you will find hemp-seed the best pro- 
moter of laying. 

Fowl of all kinds require sand or gravel as an aid to 
digestion, being, in fact, necessary to promote a medium 
of trituration in the gizzard, as well as to supply calca- 
reous matter for their egg-shells. You should, therefore, 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 09 

always have such placed within the birds' reach. This, 
I must admit, applies more immediately to such fowl as 
are kept in a confined yard ; when the range is at al! 
extensive, the birds can usually pick up enough for them- 
selves. Fresh water gravel is the best ; if you live near 
the sea, and wish to use sand so easily obtainable from 
the beach, you should first wash it, and in two or three 
waters. Where no sand of any kind can be obtained, as 
in towns, you can buy chalk, or give them plenty of old 
mortar : you will, of course, 'pound before placing it in 
the yard. 

" Twelve hens shall be enough for one good cock, 
which will 'cause the progeny to be more of a color; but 
yet our ancestors used to give only five hens to one cock, 
thus producing a diversity of color. To have the hens 
all of one color is preferable, some white, and these are 
considered the best layers." 

M. Parmentier, a very eminent French writer, says, 
that one cock is much more than sufficient for fifteen, or 
even twenty hens, provided he be a young, vigorous, and 
healthy bird. 

If you look for profit to the production of eggs alone, 
I should say that one cock — if a stout, young, and 
lively bird — may have as many as twenty hens. If, 
however, you want to obtain strong and thriving chickens, 
you must restrict him to six, or at most, eight. If your 
object be the improvement of a worn-out or degenerate 
breed, the fewer hens you allow to one cock the better, 
and you should not, at any rate, allow him more than 
three. 

11 When," says Bosc, " it is wished to have eggs 
during the cold season, even in the dead of winter, it is 
necessary to make the fowls roost over an oven, in a 
stable, or to erect a stove in the poultry-house on pur- 
pose. By such methods the farmers of Auge have 
chickens fit for the table in the month of April, a period 
when they are only beginning to be hatched on the 
farms around Paris, although further to the south. It 
would be desirable to have stoves more common in 
poultry-houses near cities, where luxury grudges no 
expense for the convenience of having fresh eggs." 
9 



100 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

A writer in the Cultivator says, " I never allow cocks 
to run with my hens, except when I want to raise 
chickens." He recommends giving them fresh meat 
chopped fine, once a day ; never allowing any eggs to 
remain in the nest for nest eggs. " My hens," continues 
the writer, " always lay all winder, and from 75 to 100 
eggs each, in succession. There being nothing to excite 
the animal passions, they never attempt to sit. I have 
for several years reduced my theory to practice, and 
proved its entire correctness." 

Boswellsays, "To promote fecundity and great laying 
in the hen, nothing more is necessary than the best corn 
and fair water ; but malted or sprouted barley has occa- 
sionally a good effect, whilst the hens are kept on solid 
corn ; but if continued too long, they are apt to scour." 
" It must be noted," says another writer, " that nothing is 
more necessary towards success in the particular of ob- 
taining plenty of eggs than a good attendance of cocks, 
especially in the cold season ; and it is also especially to 
be observed, that a cock whilst moulting is generally 
useless." 

The following general rules in raising poultry we cut 
from an agricultural journal, and, in the main, we can 
recommend the directions thus given : 

1. All young chickens, ducks, and turkeys, should be 
kept under cover, out of the weather, during rainy sea- 
sons. 

2. Twice or thrice a week, pepper, shalot, chives, or 
garlic, should be mixed up with their food. 

3. A small lump of asafoetida should be placed in the 
pan in which their water is given them to drink. 

4. Whenever they manifest disease, by the drooping 
of their wings, or any other outward sign of ill flesh, a 
little asafoetida, broken into small lumps, should be 
mixed with their food. 

5. Chickens which are kept from the dunghill while 
young seldom have the gapes ; therefore, it should be 
the object of those who have the charge of them so to 
confine the hens as to preclude their young from the 
range of barn or stable yards. 






THE POULTRY BREEDER. 101 

6. Should any of the chickens have the gapes, mix 
up small portions of asafoetida, rhubarb, and pepper, in 
fresh butter, and give each chicken as much of the mix- 
ture as will lie upon one half the bowl of a small tea- 
spoon. 

7. For the pip, the following treatment is judicious : — 
Take off the indurated covering on the point of the 
tongue, and give twice a day, for two or three days, a 
piece of garlic the size of a pea. If garlic cannot be 
obtained, onion, shallot, or chives, will answer ; but if 
neither of these be convenient, two grains of black pep- 
per, to be given in fresh butter, will answer. 

8. For the snuffles, the same remedies as for the 
gapes will be found highly curative ; but, in addition to 
them, it is necessary to melt a little asafoetida in fresh 
butter, and rub the chicken about the nostrils, taking care 
to clean them out. 

9. Grown up ducks are sometimes taken off rapidly 
by convulsions ; in such cases, four drops of rhubarb and 
four grains of Cayenne pepper, mixed in fresh butter, 
should be administered. Last year we lost several by 
this disease, and this year the same symptoms mani- 
fested themselves among them; but we arrested the mal- 
ady without losing a single duck, by a dose of the above 
medicine to such as were ill. One of the ducks was at 
the time paralyzed, but was thus saved. 



CHAPTER X. 

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 

A great many kinds of diseases are said to exist among 
fowls; and these have been designated by a great vari- 
ety of names. In other countries they may exist among 
poultry, but in New England we have never known such 
a diversity of character in the attacks of sickness or debil- 
ity which our fowls are here subject to ; and, as a gen- 
eral thing, the symptoms are very similar, in most cases 
that have come under our observation. We conceive 
these diseases to be, for the most part, Catarrh, Asthma, 



102 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

Pip, Fevers, Flux, and Consumption. What is generally 
termed the " Roup " around us is some one, or all, of the 
above combined ; the roup is supposed by some to be an 
affection of the rump-gland ; this is an error. 

The " Snuffles " is a common term given to a disease 
very prevalent among fowls in New England. If not 
cared for seasonably, by washing the nostrils, eyes, and 
head, thoroughly, in warm water, and cleansing the 
mouth and eyes, in the early stages, it eventuates in 
confirmed roup, which is thus described and remedied r 
according to Richardson : — 

" The true roup in poultry is a disease analogous to 
influenza in man, or even more so to the well-know T n dis- 
temper among dogs ; and, in some forms, perhaps to the 
glanders of the horse. 

" The symptoms are — difficulty of breathing; constant 
gaping ; dimness of sight ; lividity of the eyelids ; and 
the total loss of sight ; a discharge from the nostrils, that 
gradually becomes purulent and fetid ; appetite has fled, 
but thirst remains to the most aggravated extent. Some- 
times this disease appears to occur independently of any 
obvious cause ; but dirt, too hot feeding, and want of 
exercise, are among the most usual. 

" As to treatment — many writers have given various 
directions as to the treatment of roup. I shall record a 
case related by an intelligent Middlesex farmer : — 

" 6 A cock, of about four or five months old, apparently 
turned out by somebody to die, came astray, and was in 
the last stage of roup. The discharge from his mouth 
and nostrils was very considerable, and extremely pun- 
gent and fetid ; while his eyes appeared to be affected 
with an inflammation similar to Egyptian opthalmia. 
The cock was placed at the fireside, his mouth and nos- 
trils washed with soap and warm water, his eyes washed 
with warm milk and water, and the head gently rubbed 
with a dry cloth. Internally he was given long pellets 
formed of 

Bariey-mea*. | equalparts 

Ked Ginger, | e 1 ual P arts and half the «*** 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 103 

He was also given to drink, lukewarm water, sweetened 
with treacle. 

" * In three days this bird began to see, and in a week 
his sight was almost perfectly restored. A little mustard 
was still given him in his water ; and then some flour 
of sulphur. He had also a pinch of calomel in some 
dough. He was generally brought out so as to inure 
him to the cold, and in a month was as well as ever. 

11 * Having moulted late, the same bird caught cold at 
the first frost, and suffered a relapse — from which, how- 
ever, he was recovered by warmth alone.' 

" My treatment would be merely a modification of the 
above — warmth and cleanliness, as matters of course ; 
but, for pellets, I prefer — 

Powdered Gentian, 1 part. 

Powdered Ginger, ...... 1 " 

Epsom Salts, 1£ " 

Flour of Sulphur, £ " 

Made up with butter, and give every morning. 

" If the discharge should become fetid, the mouth, nos- 
trils, and eyes, may be bathed with a weak solution, com- 
posed of equal parts of chloride of lime and acetate of 
lead." We have tried the latter recipe, with good success, 
the past season. 

" Turkeys and dung-hill fowls, which are kept closely 
confined, are often affected with a disease of the eyes and 
head, called " sore heady It sometimes destroys the 
sight. Some suppose it to be contagious. We have 
known fowls to have it, which had their liberty in the 
day-time, but roosted at night in a building or room fitted 
purposely for them. We observe that Mr. A. P. Cum- 
raings, at a late meeting of the Farmer's Club, New 
York, gives it as his opinion that the ammonia of the 
dung injures their eyes. He removes the dung, and 
scatters on the spot plaster of Paris freely." 

Moulting. — Dr. Bechstein remarks, that, in a state of 
nature, moulting occurs to wild birds precisely when their 
food is most plenty; hence, nature herself points out 
that the fowl should, during that period, be furnished 
with an extra supply of food. After the third year, the 



104 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

period of moulting becomes later and later, until it will 
sometimes happen in January or February. Of course, 
when this occurs, every care as to warmth should be 
bestowed. The use of Cayenne pepper alone will gen- 
erally suffice. Do not listen to the recommendation of 
ignorant or presuming quacks ; if this simple treatment 
do not help them through, they will die, in spite of all 
you may do. 

Pip. — A well-known author says that this is a dis- 
ease to which young fowl are peculiarly liable, and that, 
too, chiefly in hot weather. 

The symptoms are — a thickening of the membrane 
of the tongue, especially toward its tip. This speedily 
becomes an obstruction of sufficient magnitude to impede 
the breathing ; this produces gasping for breath ; and at 
this stage the beak will often be held open. The plum- 
age becomes ruffled and neglected, especially about the 
head and neck. The appetite gradually goes ; and the 
poor bird shows its distress by pining, moping, and seek- 
ing solitude and darkness. 

The cause of this disease is want of clean water and 
feeding upon hot food. Dr, Bechstein considers it to be 
analogous to the influenza of human beings. In fact, the- 
ories respecting its nature are too numerous to mention, 
and are of very little practical importance. 

" Cure. — Most writers recommend the immediate 
removal of the thickened membrane. Rather anoint 
the part with fresh butter or cream. Prick the scab with 
a needle, if you like ; and give internally a pill, about 
the size of a marble, composed of — 

Scraped J Horseradish, | e< l ual P arts ' 
As much Cayenne pepper as will outweigh a grain of wheat. 

Mix with fresh butter, and give it every morning, keep- 
ing the fowl warm. Keep the bird supplied with plenty 
of fresh water ; preserve it from molestation, by keeping 
it by itself, and you will generally find it get well, if you 
have taken the disease in time. Do not let any one, equally 
ignorant and cruel, persuade you to cram the mouth with 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 105 

snuff, after having torn off the thickened membrane with 
your nail. This is equally repugnant to humanity and 
common sense. 

Asthma is characterized by gaping, panting, and dif- 
ficulty of breathing. 

We need not go far to seek for a cause. Our poultry 
are originally natives of tropical climates ; and, however 
well they may appear climatized, they, nevertheless, re- 
quire a more equable temperature than our climate, un- 
aided by artificial means, can afford, Hence, coughs, 
colds, catarrh, asthma, pulmonary consumption. 

Cure. — Warmth, with small repeated doses of hippo 
powder and sulphur, mixed with butter and Cayenne pep- 
per. 

Fever. — Fowl are frequently subject to febrile affec- 
tions. 

The mode of treatment is simple. — Light food, and 
little of it; change of air; and, if necessary, aperient 
medicines — such as castor-oil, with a little burnt butter. 

Costiveness. — This affection will, in general, yield to 
castor-oil and burned butter. The diet should be spar- 
ing. Thin porridge (or mush) will be found useful. 

Flux. — This generally proceeds from an aggravated 
diarrhoea. Rice boiled in milk, or starch, usually effects 
a cure. 

Consumption is incurable ; but, if anything will do it 
good, it is change of air and warmth. 



CHAPTER XL 

CAPONIZING. 

The business of making capons (castrated fowls) is 
carried on rather extensively in the region of Philadel- 
phia, but little is known of the process of performing this 
operation in New England. The objects to be gained 
by this work are to increase the size of the fowl rapidly, 
and to render the flesh (when finally fitted for the table) 
more delicate and palatable. 



106 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

By this operation, the natural fierceness of the cock is 
quieted ; he becomes placid and peaceful ; his pugnacity 
has deserted him ; he no longer seeks the company of the 
hens ; he grows to a far larger size than he otherwise 
would have done; he acquires flesh with far greater 
rapidity, and that flesh is peculiarly white, firm, and 
succulent, and even the fat is perfectly destitute of 
rankness. To these advantages another may, perhaps, 
be added : namely, the capon may, by a little manage- 
ment, be converted into an admirable nurse, and will be 
found particularly valuable, in this respect, to parties 
using the eccalobeion, or hatching-machine ! 

The process of caponizing has been made a subject 
of much unnecessary mystery, and, I regret to add,, says 
Eichardson, of much unnecessary cruelty. In point of 
fact, the process is an extremely simple affair, and one 
which the country henwives in France perform with 
facility and certainty. The practice of the French 
country women is to select the close of the spring, or the 
beginning of autumn, as well as fine weather, for the 
performance of their work. The parts necessary to be 
removed being fixed in the abdomen, and attached to the 
spine at the region of the loins, it is absolutely necessary 
to open the abdominal cavity for the purpose of their 
extraction. 

The bird should be healthy, fasting, and about three 
months old. He is then to be secured by an assistant, 
upon his back, his belly upwards, and his head down, 
that the intestines, &c, may fall up towards the breast; 
the tail is to be towards the operator. The right leg is 
then carried along the body, and the left brought back- 
wards, and held in this position, so as to leave the left 
flank perfectly bare, for it is there that the incision is to 
be made. The said incision is to be directed from before 
backwards, transversely to the length of the body, at the 
middle of the flank, and slightly to the side between the 
ends of the breast-bone and the vent. Having plucked 
away the feathers from the space where it is intended to 
make the incision, you take a bistoury or a razor, and 
cut through the skin, abdominal muscles, and perito- 



THE POTTLTRY BREEDER. 107 

neum ; it is better to do this at two or more cuts, in 
order to avoid the possibility of wounding the intestines 
— a casualty that would, in most cases, be attended with 
fatal results. The intestines present themselves at the 
orifice, but you must not suffer them to come out ; on 
the contrary, you press them gently aside, so as to have 
room for action. The incision should have been suffi- 
ciently large to admit of the forefinger, previously well 
oiled, being passed into the abdomen, and carried care- 
fully towards the lumbar region of the spine : you will 
there find what you are in search of. You first reach 
the left substance, which you detach with your nail, or 
with your finger bent hook-fashion ; you then arrive at 
the right, which you treat similarly; bring both sub- 
stances forth. You finally return the intestines, sew up 
the wound with a silk thread — a very few stitches will 
suffice — and smear the place with a little fresh butter. 

The process having been performed as above described, 
the bird is placed in a warm house, where there are no 
perches ; as, if such appliances were present, the newly- 
made capon might very probably injure himself in his 
attempts to perch ; and, perhaps, even tear open the 
sutures; and, possibly, occasion the operation, usually 
simple and free from danger, to terminate fatally. For 
about a week, the food of the bird should be soft oat-meal 
porridge, and that in small quantities, alternated with 
bread steeped in milk ; he may be given as much pure 
water as he will drink, but I recommend that it be tepid, 
or at least that the chill be taken off it. At the end of a 
week, or, at the furthest, ten days, the bird, if he has 
been previously of a sound, vigorous constitution, will be 
all right, and may be turned out into the- walk common 
to all your fowl. 

The principal objects proposed to be attained by the 
operation of caponizing are, a remarkable facility of fat- 
tening, and, consequently, enhanced profits to the feeders 
or breeders, and, under some circumstances, the acquisi- 
tion of a greater degree of docility, so that the capon 
may even be taught to tend a brood of chickens. 

The caponizing of pullets is performed in much the 
10 



108 THE POULTRY BREEDER. 

same manner as in the case of cocks. The oviduct 
is found towards the loins, and is extracted in the 
same manner as already described in the former case. 
Some French writers, however, and Schreger amongst 
the first, state, that in the case of pullets or hens the 
operation is unnecessary, it being only required to make 
a small incision just above the vent, on a little eminence 
that will be perceived in that place ; then, by repeated 
pressure, you cause the protrusion of the uterus — a little 
whitish body; this is cut away, the wound heals of 
itself, and nothing further is required. 

The capon is so very much disposed of itself to take 
on flesh, that it will, in general, attain to sufficient con- 
dition in the yard, or about the barn-door. Sometimes, 
however, it is deemed advisable to cram him, a practice 
but little used in this country. 

A little dish of fine gravel or coarse sand, left in the 
feeding-trough, will be relished by the birds, will pro- 
mote digestion, and will, of course, thus aid in conducing 
to their rapid fattening. 

In concluding this chapter, I would just beg to be per- 
mitted to observe, that no defence is offered of the prac- 
tice of either caponizing or cramming; neither do we 
conceive it necessary, however, to volunteer as the 
assailant of either one or the other. 

A correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger gives the 
following very simple mode of castrating fowls : 

" The bird was kept from food for two days, in order 
that the distended entrails should not conceal the organs 
from the view of the operator. 

" Strapping its wings to a table, through an auger- 
hole, an inch incision was made in the side, between the 
hip and the last rib, and two inches from the spine ; the 
feathers having been first plucked out at that spot. 

" By a simple spring-grapple, the sides of the wound 
are kept apart. The organ to be removed is readily 
recognized; it is a small reddish-yellow cylinder, tied to 
the spine ; and by means of a horse-hair, looped and 

5assed through a little tube, it is removed in an instant. 
?he bird was turned on the other side, another incision 



THE POULTRY BREEDER. 109 

made, and the corresponding organ excised — the whole 
process occupying about two minutes. The loose feathers 
were pressed on the wounds as a styptic, and the poor 
bird did not appear to suffer at all." 



CONCLUSION. 



With the foregoing directions we close our present 
volume. We have culled, from the best sources, such 
information as we have deemed strictly applicable to the 
wants of our home community, and we have arranged 
it in such a shape that we flatter ourself it will be found 
acceptable in a 'practical view. 

We have presented in this volume several accurate 
likenesses of some of the best known and highest valued 
fowls in America; from which stock new generations 
of superior domestic birds may be looked for, hereafter. 
At a future day, we may issue another edition of the 
" New England Poultry Breeder," if the demand will 
warrant it ; and if so, we shall make such practical addi- 
tions, revisions, and improvements upon our first edition, 
as the circumstances and our facilities may afford. 

Meantime, we present these pages for the perusal and 
(we trust) the approval of the community at large, who 
are interested in the pleasing and laudable undertaking 
of improving the breed and character of American 
Poultry. 



PARKER & WHITE'S ADVERTISEMENT. 



Agricultural Warehouse 

AND 





PARKER &, WHITE, 

No. 10 Gerrish Block, Blackstone Street, Boston, 

Manufacture and have for Sale all the lately improved Farm Ma- 
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Hay, Straw, and Cornstalk Cutters, with spiral and straight Knives. 

Premium Greensward, Road, and Small Plows. 

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Thermometer and Cylinder Churns. 

Seed-sowers and Corn-planters, Corn-Mills. 

Clinton's and Yankee Corn-shellers. 

Sugar Mills, Hand Corn-Mills, Coffee-Mills. 

Ox Yokes, complete, with Patent Bow-pins. 

Ames', White's, &c, Cast-steel Shovels and Spades. 

Improved Cast-steel Concave Hoes ; Common do. 

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Morse's, Pope & Parsons', and King's Cast-steel Forks. 

Grindstones, complete, with Improved Hangings. 

Patent Coach Wrenches ; Post Spoons ; Ditching Spades. 

They also raise and sell pure and genuine GARDEN and FIELD 
SEEDS, and 

Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, Boots, Vines and Scions. 



DOMESTIC POULTRY. 

The Subscribers are importing and breeding a few of the most valu- 
able stocks of Fowls, and nave made such arrangements with several 
fanciers in the neighborhood, as to be able to furnish all the perfect 
breeds in their purity. 

Also for sale, Eggs for Hatching, Artificial Nest Eggs, Fowl Feed- 
ers, and Straw Nests. 

PARKER & WHITE, 
No. 10 Gerrish Block, Blackstone St., Boston. 







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